


Welcome to the New world

by Elodiethemelody



Series: Commander's Need Love Too, Right? [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F, F/M, Rating: M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-05-31 11:16:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6468094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elodiethemelody/pseuds/Elodiethemelody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taking the perspective of a soldier during the events of mass effect 3 and after. Max Coleman (19 years old) is an unexpected soldier, suffering from Ehlers Danlos Syndrom (HEDS) signs up to join the Alliance upon hearing about the invasion of the Reapers and the actions Cerberus has taken against the Galaxy. Inspired by Commander Shepard, and Jeff (Joker) Moreau She signs up to be an engineer. Of course, the Reapers decimate the military and a girl who medically doesn't qualify to be on the front lines finds herself fighting for her life in London during the events of the final push. </p><p>The war is over. The Reapers have been defeated. When Shepard is capable once more, she's discharged from the Alliance no longer fit to lead, as written in her psychological profile. The Alliance used her image to front the rebuilding of society, used her to talk to the world, then told her to get out when she was no longer needed. She finds herself Searching for the young woman who saved her life, every day hoping to hear news of the Normandy's return.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to be writing this at the same time as the first part because there will be some over lap, but point of view changes. We won't see anything from Shepard's POV until after the events of mass effect three so I figured Now would be a good time to start part two. Besides I've been sitting on these ideas since writing the events of mass effect 1 and wanted to get them out. Basically Max is going to be the rebel Shepard would have been had she not joined the military. Interesting to see the two characters meet but that won't happen for a while. Max will have a few distinct qualities of her own, but the two characters are meant to be very similar for plot reasons. AKA they won't get a long well when they end up working together. It will be great though. :) At least for me. If you guys don't like it I'm sorry, but these are my schemes after all.
> 
> Also, Something I failed to mention and should have, in light of invisible Illnesses everywhere, that's what inspired me to write Max. She struggles, as many people with invisible illnesses do, but over all she is strong. As someone who was diagnosed at a young age with Hypermobility syndrom, which is now classified as the same as HEDS I'm writing first hand experience, although some things I have not personally experienced so bare with me. Also, it's nice to see a protagonist over come adversity, I have no idea how medicine is different from 2016 to then so some of it I have had to make up. There is a portion about self healing polymer, however that is currently being worked on today. Cool right? The things it could help with are astronomical. So shout out to all you Zebra's out there. This character is for you, but also she is for everyone else. You can't just wish away chronic illnesses and unfortunately that is something she will have to struggle with as the story progresses.

The Citadel is a nice change of pace from the small moon, Tiptree Max was raised on. Max is a striking and intelligent individual, with very little patience. She aspired to make a career there, but currently spends her working hours as a dancer at Purgatory. It seemed fitting to her, the Romance Catholic definition of Purgatory is a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven. Yeah, this shit hole really did feel like suffering to her. Her thoughts flew as she took the scissors to her hair. Navy blue locks had started building up in the sink in front of her. The woman looking back in their mirror had a striking new look with the short boyish cut. 

Max squeezed the tube of dye into her gloved hand and began rubbing the smelly goo into her hair. As a dancer she needed to be on her game when it came to her appearance. Instead of waiting 4-6 weeks to dye her hair, she usually did it every three weeks. The hair cut was a new idea, after last night's run in with a drunken lunatic she'd decided enough was enough. She needed to make sure no one would try grabbing her hair again. It was painful and quite frankly, annoying. Purgatory was a relatively safe night club, in comparison to some of the lower class clubs, the bouncers actually paid attention to their dancers there so there was that. Ever since the Reapers invaded She'd been making a killing. No one tips better than a drunken soldier. Those tended to be her favorites anyway, most of them knew better than to cause a scene. Nothing like a court martial to hold those suckers in check. Surprisingly though, her highest tippers were a couple of turians, she guessed they fancied her flexibility. They were there every night ten pm on the dot asking for her. She made sure to work extra hard for their dances, they were clean, they were nice, and they never broke the first rule. Don't touch the dancers. It was time to wash the goo out of her hair and blow dry it moving on with her day. 

Her hair was naturally a light shade of blonde, but since she'd moved to the citadel a couple years ago she stopped getting real sunlight and it had started to dull. No better reason than to run through the exciting colors. It took her bout 6 months to realize she got the best tips when it was blue. Maybe it was the Asari influence she wasn't 100% sure. Hopefully chopping it all off didn't lose her any money. Besides, instead of buying two or three bottles of dye now she only needed one. Seemed like a good trade off. 

She pulled on her dancer's uniform, which was a similar shade of blue, and through a coat over herself. She never walked to work in only her uniform even though the Citadel was always at a comfortable temperature. She wasn't allowed to fly a skycar, too many unpaid tickets had permanently revoked her right to drive. It was mostly speeding. Who even pulls a chick over for going 5 kilometers over the speed limit anyway? Board C-Sec officers that's who. She walked out of the bathroom looking for her nightly self confidence booster. She grabbed the prepped joint from the table and lit it. The skunk like smell was always a welcoming anxiety breaker, and that was before she took her nightly allotted hits. She breathed deep then blew out the smoke smiling. It usually took a full joint to even get her light headed anymore, but she enjoyed it so she paid for the habit. It was better than the red sand crap people bought here anyway. She had a good dealer too, mostly that was because she always paid upfront and never got behind. First mistake when buying drugs. 

She wanted to grab dinner at Apollo's before she went in to work that evening. She quickly exited her apartment, which was nothing fancy, but felt like it cost way too much based on location. The presidium Commons, what a lovely place. She kept her heels in her side bag, flats for commuting between work and home. No way would she be caught walking longer than she had to, the pain those heels caused was pretty awful. Most of the other girls didn't complain as much as she complained in her head, of course, most of the other girls didn't have a genetic condition that caused their joints to be unstable. She considered herself lucky though, she was tough enough to deal with the pain, for now anyway. 

She looked down towards the bank and stopped when she noted the Red headed female walking in her general direction with the tall turian in tow. She'd never seen the commander up close before, and the Alliance did a good job portraying her. In real life, she was freaking short. Max realized she couldn't be taller than five feet. By now the woman and the turian were walking past. Not even a glance. Well, it's not everyday you see the Butcher of Torfan out on the presidium, wait, wasn't she supposed to be in lock up or something? Max did a double take on the realization and shook her head. Well, the Reapers are here, guess that awarded her some clout for her previous actions. 

She continued realizing she had three hours to kill before she had to be anywhere. She wasn't exactly hungry yet so she made her way down to the lower shops curious to see what they were selling now. usually weapons, but occasionally she could catch the newest model ships, one her Max's favorite past times when she had some down time. she didn't get very close to one of the shops until she found herself staring at probably one of the sexiest mech's she'd ever seen. Oh fucking score. Tech and womanly sexiness all in one package?! She walked up to the mech giving her a very thorough investigation before her thoughts were interrupted. 

"That's _my_ assistance mech your gawking at. Can I help you?" The familiar voice interrupted her thoughts. Where had she heard that voice before. "Hello?" 

She turned to see the last person she expected to find sitting on a bench lounging. 

"Jeff? Holy hell I haven't seen you in _Years_. What have you been doing?" Max exclaimed eyeing the man she hadn't seen since his last visit home on leave. Well, the last one she was around for. 

"Wait, wait is that you max?" She walked over and took a seat next to him. 

"In the flesh. Long time no see. Seriously, what have you been up to? I mean since the attack on the Citadel I haven't heard anything about where you've been. I actually moved here shortly after. I figured citadel's seen battle, it likely wouldn't happen against for a few years, but I guess the Reapers are here now soo... my few years time of relative safety is up." Max gave a smile. 

"Oh you know, Saving the Galaxy, twice. Getting into trouble with the Alliance... again twice. Working for Cerberus, that's not happening again, but I did manage to get some comfy leathers seats and one sexy assistance mech." Jeff had the biggest grin on his face. 

"I'll say. I'm sorry but damn that mech. It's all part perfect, technological and sexy. Where can I get one? Or do I have to wait til my joints all give out." Max teased playing with the support rings on her fingers. 

"Oh hey you finally got those ring splints. So do they actually do anything or just prevent your fingers from dislocating when you try to feed yourself?" Jeff teased. 

"Actually they are quite awesome. Best thousand creds I've spent, and they are Stirling silver so people have no idea what they are." That was something they both had in common. Connective tissue disorders. He had Vroliks and She had Heds. His effected his bones, hers effected everything else in some shape or form. At least she could walk, and dance sexily without breaking a bone though. She still had a few years in her before she would be out of commission. Heds gets worse with age. Nothing they can do about that. Without the ring splints though, Max's fingers couldn't hold themselves together properly, and grossed people out. Mostly because dislocated fingers ends up with fingers in odd angles and pain. 

"It's really good to see you. I remember when you and Hilary were inseparable. Now I find you here chilling where the Galaxy goes to forget. So what are you forgetting?" Jeff asked. 

"Well, it's still peaceful here. So Reapers?" Max gave a sigh. "Honestly I have no idea what to expect. Give it to me plain, on a scale of 1 to totally fucked how are we looking? I've seen the reports from Earth." 

"We're not just totally fucked Max, We're dead if the Commander can't forge and Alliance between the turians and the krogans. All of us." Jeff let out a sigh. 

"Oh... damn." Max sat back. "How's Hilary? I haven't spoken to her since I left. She's pissed at me. What can I say though? I grew up. I'm a few years her senior and she's still just a kid." 

"Oh, well I haven't spoken to her in about six months." Jeff admitted. Max caught a look she couldn't read flash across his face. "She wants to be a pilot though. Speaking of, I always thought you'd end up some gear head on a ship why are you here?"

"I just needed to get away from the colony. I needed to spread my wings see what I could do on my own ya know? I considered joining the Alliance like you did, I mean hell if you could do it I could, but I figured my anxiety would get in the way. Didn't bother trying." Max cast him a sideways glance. "I figure maybe someone who owns a ship might eventually hire me. I keep putting apps out but no one bites. Military vets and mercs get chosen over me every time. Normally people hear you have a medical history longer than their papers in uni and they look you over."

"Yeah, the Alliance doesn't. I mean you wouldn't find yourself on the front line with a medical history that long, but they'd put you to work. Only mechanic I've met that was better than you was a quarian. That's saying something." Jeff gave her a pat on the shoulder. 

"I did enjoy working on those ships at the port with my dad. The drive cores just kinda... spoke to me. He passed away though. Another reason I left. Other than Hilary I didn't have much holding me back and she was getting into the awkward I like boys stage. I couldn't handle it." Max shook her head laughing. 

Max gave another look at the Mech and noticed the commander had stopped to talk to it. "Uh Jeff, why is Commander Shepard talking to a mech? Is she really as crazy as the media says she is?" 

"Ahh no. Between you and me, and I mean this goes no where, That's EDI. She's an AI." Jeff admitted. 

"Whoa whoa whoa hold the comm. Say what?" Max looked a little nervous and surprised. 

"Yea, but she's good. Helped me save the _Normandy_ 2.0 from complete destruction from a second collector attack." Jeff had a look of pride on his face. 

"Yea, but... still... isn't she _dangerous_?" Max wasn't convinced.

"Naw, she'd alright. In fact I bet you'd like her. I'll give you special privileges to talk to her. Tell her I sent ya over. I'd introduce you, but ah... walking." Jeff made a cracking sound. 

"I know. You and Hilary are just fragile human beings." Max gave a teasing poke on the arm. She knew his limits she'd never actually hurt him but it was the inside joke of a threat they'd share. "Look I'm a dancer at Purgatory, next time your on the Citadel, or hell even tonight if you're still around stop by and I'll chat up your assistance mech, maybe buy her dinner if she's into that sort of thing." 

"Hey, hey, Lay off, she's still mine." Jeff definitively countered. 

"Alright _Joker_." Max only used his nickname when he said something outlandish. "I need to get dinner and it looks like your commander is on her way to talk to you. Better stay out of trouble. Wouldn't want a court martial." She gave a wink before standing up. There was an awkward moment where many of her joints, made a sickening cracking sound. "Looks like it's one of those days. Thank goodness the music is so loud those can be missed when I'm dancing." 

"I'm always amazed how much pain you aren't in when that happens." Jeff teased. 

"Later." Max shook her head walking away. She felt the Commander's eyes watching her back. 

"Who was that?" The Commander asked. 

"My kid sister's best friend. She grew up with me." Jeff explained. 

"Ahh," their voices grew distant as Max made her way to the cafe, completely forgetting about her want to check out the model ships. 

She ordered a turkey sandwich and some water then realized there were no open tables. She noticed an open seat next to an asari but other than that the cafe was crowded today. She took the tray she was given and started walking that way. Might as well meet someone new. 

"Excuse me, may I sit with you? There aren't any other seats available and my knees are killing me." Well, they weren't killing her per se but they were sore. She didn't feel like trying to stand and eat. 

"Sure." the asari seemed distracted deep in thought. She kept her eyes glued to the data pad in front of her. 

Max took the seat and started tearing bits of her sandwich off and shoving it into her mouth. She ate in silence trying not to disturb the other person at the table. Whatever she was reading was probably important and she wasn't the best at conversations with strangers anyway. She was mostly finished with her sandwich by the time the asari decided to break the silence. 

"So who are you?" She asked setting down her data pad. 

"Uh... just call me max." Max washed down the dryness in her throat with the water. 

"Your pupils are dilated. Are you high?" Max froze. That was unexpected. 

"Uh... not on anything illegal if that's what you're after." Max was starting to regret sitting here. What if she was C-sec. She didn't have time for them to haul her in and do a blood test just to determine she wasn't on anything not allowed in the area. 

Max stared down studying the tattoo on her wrist while she took a few more bites of her food. Before the Asari could speak again another voice entered the conversation. 

"Liara! Let me guess you know her, too?" The human Spectre grabbed the last seat at the table and sat down. 

"No. She just sat down." Liara explained. 

Max took the last couple bites of her sandwich and watched the two people stare at her. She chewed slowly and settled her cup in her hand. "Those rings. They look familiar, I've read about them-" 

Max swallowed her food. So she could speak. "They're just for show. Nothing exciting." 

"No, those are medical." The asari corrected. "In fact, I believe you're Max Coleman. Born on Tiptree? I've heard about you before and I have a pretty good memory." 

"Okay, that's not creepy at all." Max took a drink of her water and set it back down on her tray. "Look I'm going to go, please do not follow me." 

"I didn't mean- I'm sorry I didn't mean to creep you out." The asari seemed exasperated. 

"You know, asking someone who they are then telling them who they are is kind of creepy. I have places to be, things to see people to do, you know the saying. Adios." Max stood picking up her tray. 

"Liara, you scared the poor girl shitless." She heard Shepard's laugh and suddenly Max felt a surge of confidence. No one, not even the human Spectre laughs at her expense. 

She turned around setting the tray back down planting her hands on the table. She leaned forward peering into the brownish orange colored eyes of the Commander. "Takes a lot more than that to scare me. Creep me out sure, but scare me shitless? That's a bit dramatic." 

"Hold on there, I didn't intend to piss you off, I was just driving the point home that Liara was in fact being creepy. She does that some times." Commander Shepard wasn't phased by Max's words. Of course she wasn't. This is the woman who killed 305,000 batarians. A girl like her isn't going to do anything to wipe the smirk off her face. 

"Right. Okay, first how did you know who I was?" Max shifted her gaze over to the asari. "It's not like Jeff keeps a holo of me with him. Secondly, _Commander_ you were just laughing at my expense to please, do tell me how that wasn't intended to piss me off." 

"I tend know a little too much about my friends." The asari smiled. "I like to know about them. You happen to be someone he mentioned so I looked you up." 

"You just 'looked me up'. What did you glean from this 'looking me up'?" Max quizzed.

"You're 21 years old, a dancer at Purgatory, have a colorful history with C-sec, you don't enjoy long walks on the beach nor that coconut drink a lot of humans enjoy. Also, you're good with ships. Oh and those are ring splints. Generally worn around the small joints of fingers of people who are hypermobile. I could go on... but I think you get the idea." Liara finished. 

"What is your gain in knowing all of this?" Max asked. 

"I'm an information broker and I'm very good at my job." Liara gave a soft smile. "I also wanted to mention you're a really good dancer, I've seen you at Purgatory. I was here about six months ago on my way to the sol system." 

"Thanks?" Max narrowed her eyes. "Why horde information like that? It's really unhealthy to spy on your uh... friends?" 

"I feel like I know my friends better that way. Also it can be useful." The explanation didn't really put Max at ease. 

She turned her head back to the Commander waiting for her to answer the second part of her initial question. 

"Look kid, I honestly didn't expect to upset you, I was simply laughing at Liara's inability to have a normal conversation with anyone. Not at you." The woman seemed amused. Max started chewing on her tongue ring but her muscle relaxed. "Speaking of normal conversations... Liara, The asari at the bar?" 

"You mean the matriarch hired by the asari government to track my movements?" Liara answered. 

"She's your father." The Commander added a smirk crossing her arms and sat back. 

"I know."

"Fuck, I don't get to surprise you with anything." The Commander gave an audible sigh. 

"As I just finished telling Max here, I'm a very good information broker." Liara sat forward giving a pleased smile. 

"You should talk to her." 

Max turned away not having anyway to justify sticking around for this conversation. It clearly was headed in a direction she didn't want to be around for. So that was the infamous Commander Shepard. Max was suddenly regretting sitting down at that table. She could have just walked to her apartment. Then at least she could pretend she had some privacy. She handed her tray the the asari matriarch at the bar and left. She could at least show up early for work, maybe even get a few extra dances in before her shift technically started. She called the elevator that would send her to purgatory. When it finally opened she stepped in. 

"Hold the elevator!" A flanging voice called out. Without a thought she held her hand out so the censor would catch her hand. These elevators move so slow, she'd hate to make the poor turian wait. 

The turian ran into the elevator nodding a thanks and the let the door shut. 

"So... Blue isn't a natural hair color for humans... is it?" He asked looking at her. 

"Nope." She noticed the Colony markings on his face were a pretty similar shade of blue. Must be why he found it interesting. 

"Why blue?" He pressed. 

_Come one elevator please hurry_.

"I get better tips." She responded. 

"Oh? What do you do?" The turian asked. 

"Are you always this nosy?" She asked reaching her hand into her bag clasping the pepper spray. She was always prepared. 

"Only in elevators." The turian chuckled. "Sorry about the Commander, she tends to have that effect on people." 

"Seriously? Is everyone on the Presidium Commons on her fucking crew?" Max let go of the bottle realizing she wasn't going to need it. 

"Nope. Unless you're her secret spy or something. Come to think of it, without Kasumi she needs one." The turian was clearly thinking aloud at this point. 

"Not my forte. I dance." Max responded. 

"I always notice a distinct lack of turian dancers." The turian mused. 

"you're just going to the wrong bars- wait shouldn't you know that?" Max gave a strange look to the turian. 

"Well, I'm always following Shepard when she goes to the bars, Maybe I should pick the next bar we go to." 

"You are awfully talkative in elevators..." Max was hoping he'd take the hint. 

"Well they are really slow, and you find the most interesting things out about people in them." 

"Uh huh." _Elevator you could open up to purgatory anytime now._

"So what's your name?" The turian asked. 

"Why don't you asked your _Commander_?" Max retorted. 

"Well I'm Garrus." Garrus said sticking out a hand. 

"Really, Garrus, I'm not a people person." Max crossed her arms. 

"You just told me you were a dancer. How could you not be a people person?" He asked completely intrigued. 

"I'm just not." Max responded shortly. 

"How do you talk with that thing in your mouth." Garrus asked. 

Max was thankful the door finally opened to the familiar view she was used to seeing every day. She quickly left the elevator leaving Garrus behind. 

...

Max's had been dancing for two hours in the group when her omni-tool alerted her to a private dance. The name on the order came up as Archangel. _Huh. That's an interesting name._ She got off of the stage and headed towards the bar entrance for dancers only and made her way down the steps. She looked around and sighed when her eyes landed on the turian and the Commander sitting at the table number she'd been ordered too. _Just great_. 

She walked up not letting their presence take her stage face away and greeted them with a charming "Hello, you wanted a dance?" 

"Actually I wanted to give you a tip better than anyone in this room could." The short woman stood up. 

"Oh?" Max asked trying to be polite. 

"Joker told me about your skills set. The _Normandy_ Doesn't need another engineer, but I know of a few ships booked to leave tomorrow that are looking for some more recruits for the war effort." The Commander offered. "You'll get better pay than you would here. I say that's a pretty fine tip."

"Only if I have a death wish." Max said with a smile. 

"Well, we either win this war or we're all dead, I'm just giving you the opportunity to make a difference." She offered sliding a pamphlet across the table. "Also, I may have seen some of your scores from Liara. I was impressed." 

"Are you trying to bride me into the military with Flattery?" Max crossed her arms. 

"I just know that Joker said it was something you considered. If there's a time to join, now would be it." Shepard shrugged. "It's up to you, there are plenty of non-combat roles and based on your information you'd suit that much better than half the people signing up right now." 

"So I'm average now. For a second I was starting to see why they made you the poster soldier, then you lost me with that comment." Max deadpanned. "Is there something wrong with my profession now?"

"Well, the other half signing up are going to the front lines, the half you're better than are the soft skilled soldiers. I don't see you doing much on the front lines." Shepard said bluntly. "And quite frankly, your profession is wasting your potential."

"Ahh the inevitable P word. you really are sounding like one of those recruitment brochures. Did you read it before you came in?" Max stiffly picked up the pamphlet looking for an excerpt to read aloud. "'Master your potential in the Alliance Military.' Oh yea, right there. Was that first comment supposed to be a challenge?" 

"Good god no. I'd rather you didn't go to the front lines. I'd hate to have to deal with Joker when he found out I was the reason you died." Shepard sighed. "Look think about it. Call the number if you decide it's what you want to do. It'll be better than here." 

"Alright good night. I'd like to make some money, I've got bills to pay." Max left the two people at the table and made her way into the bar. 

"Max getting a drink already?" The bartender asked. She thought for a moment. The thought of getting on a ship and working her magic on the engines suddenly becoming very tempting. "Actually, Consider this my resignation. I've found other employment."


	2. Dog of the Military

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max gets introduced to military life.

"Max Coleman?" The man near the docks called out. She stood up and walked over to him. "Right now, with the war as it is, we've lost a lot of official capabilities so here's what we are going to do. You sign this document stating that you agreed to server for this war, and we will get you situated. From the recommendation I received from Commander Shepard, you are looking to server as an engineer correct?" 

"Yup." Max nodded. "I want to server on a ship. Not much for combat since my joints tend to pop out of their sockets, would be a bad time." she shrugged. 

"Well, In case of an emergency we do have some suits designed for stability. Never know if you're going to end up planet side and right now we need all the hands we can get." He handed her the data pad. "Your ship could be shot down, honestly there's a lot of situations where you'll end up planet side. The SSV Budapest is going to be leaving in several hours and they currently have a suit that should fit you. They also currently have an engineering position available."

"What was that cruiser doing here?" Max asked genuinely curious. 

"Getting a few upgrades before it heads to the Sol system. It's Incorporated a cloaking capability similar to the design of the _Normandy_. With it's speed we are hoping to get some supplies to the troops on Earth." The officer stated. 

"Okay." she signed the waver then took the tags and ID the officer pulled form his omni tool's fabricator. He paused when he saw her dog tags then just handed them over. "I guess this as official as it gets huh?" 

"You bet. Go to Docking bay E13 and meet Captain Abraham. Give him this OSD, which has a copy of your medical files and dossier which was sent over last night. Dismissed." She took items and looked down at them. 

She pulled the dog tags over her head and looked at them. The front had the familiar blue Alliance logo on them. She turned them over reading the information on the back. 

_COLEMAN_  
_MAXINE K._  
_9782-E1-6493_  
_O NEG_  
_JEDI KNIGHT_

She grinned. She was being ridiculous when they asked for her religious affiliation. She realized that different religions had different requests after death so it was important, but she was an atheist at heart and never took that question seriously. She was however surprised to see it actually printed on her dog tags. _May the force be with me_ She thought bitterly. She wasn't really convinced this was the right choice and the did it spur of the moment, but oh well, too late now. Would suck to go AWOL right after enlisting. She went to the bathroom to change into her new uniform so she could at least attempt to look the part when she showed up. She pulled her ankle braces out of her side bag and put them on. Her ankles were giving her trouble today so might as well take care of that too. Her cane she walked with on the bad days, the ones she usually called into work for because she could hardly walk let alone dance. 

She flashed a photo in the mirror above the sink once she had everything and place and set it to Jeff. She was surprised to get an immediate response. She flipped open the tool and opened the message. 

_Looking good Max. I knew the Commander could make you come to the dark side._  
_-Joker The Master Pilot_

_Is that really your signature? Couldn't you come up with anything creative?_  
_-shack with Max_

_At least mine doesn't sound like a stripper name_  
_-Joker The Master Pilot_

_Better?_  
_-Max the Pleb_

_Definately. Which ship are you serving on?_  
_-Joker The Master Pilot_

_SSV Budapest_  
_-Max the Pleb_

_Oooo Captain Abraham is really awesome. Much nicer than Shepard. Also has never threatened to take my life blood away, but he expects the work done properly, by the book. No slacking!"  
_-Joker The Master Pilot__

_Life blood? I don't slack._  
_-Max the Pleb_

_Caffeine, and sure you don't._  
_-Joker The Master Pilot_

_Oh shit, we are leaving the system I'll catch you next time we are in Comm range_  
_-Joker The Master Pilot_

She closed her omni-tool and made her way to the docking bay. 

... 

"Uh, hi. I'm looking for Captain Abraham. I'm a new recruit." Max asked the first Alliance soldier she saw. 

"He's on board. We are scheduled to start pre-flight checks in thirty minutes, better hurry." The soldier warned. 

She walked up to the docking port and looked around. Looked like no one was going to stop her so she pressed the button and entered the docking hall. This was not her first time on a ship. She'd spent many hours after school helping her dad fix ships over at the docks. Their stop was a little out of the way for most of the Alliance, but the patrols who were stationed there had become regulars. They serviced private and Alliance ships, although the private ships were up to questionable business most of the time. Her dad didn't really care. He just did the jobs his employer told him to do. 

She opened the next door stepping into a pretty generic decon chamber. She didn't need the VI's announcement to recognize that. After the 60 second process was complete the next door opened and she was looking at the bow of the ship. She turned her head left to see a couple pilots goofing off in the front of the ship. One of them was throwing paper at the other one. She turned right and saw people scattered at different stations with a circular CIC station. The galaxy map was glowing right in the center. She immediately noticed the Captain standing in Dress blues by a blonde woman who was eagerly pointing down at the data pad. 

Max thumbed the OSD as she walked up to the decorated officer. "Max Coleman reporting in." She held out the OSD as offering. Her other hand was at her forehead. She really had no intention of pissing off this guy. In fact she intended to shy away from causing problems. 

"At ease soldier." He gave a warm smile. "I heard about you. We already pulled a suit out. I apologize it's not the most comfortable thing but in the event of an emergency it's what we have." 

"None of those suits are comfortable sir but I appreciate the concern." She responded politely. 

"Fairfield, give Coleman here a tour of the ship and then take her to the med bay for a medical eval." The Captain dismissed the two soldiers. 

"You can just call me Mike." the average sized brunette extended his hand. 

"Max." she responded. She gave his hand a quick shake. "Are there going to be other recruits?" Max asked. 

"Ahh they were brought in yesterday, we needed a soft skills tech more than we needed soldiers but we're transporting them and some medical supplies back to Earth." He explained. 

Their tour was relatively short, this ship was thankfully devoid of elevators. Max learned they were stationed on Deck 1. Deck 2 was living quarters, which were mostly sleeper pods. It was also where most of the escape pods were located. Deck 3 was where a couple extra shuttles were kept and the engine access was. Deck 4 was the shuttle bay were two shuttles were currently set up for launch at a moments notice. It was also where the armory was kept. 

"You get your standard issue Predator as a soft skilled soldier. They won't give that to you until the Captain knows you've had some training. Otherwise you'll get it here." He shrugged." There's another deck below this one for training. I'm not going to make you walk down there though. 

"Thanks. Ah, to the med bay I guess?" She offered. 

...

"We are going to run a few genetic tests real fast." The white haired lady with an accent smiled. 

"Alright? Any particular reason?" Max asked. 

"Well your medical files here say you were Diagnosed HEDS but they didn't do a genetic test." She sighed. "I'd like to know what to expect out of you, well at least to some degree. Connective tissue disorders are vastly different from one another, but so very fascinating. I used to look after a Pilot with Vroliks."

"Yea, we couldn't afford it really." Max shrugged. "Colony life can be a bit expensive and sometimes extreme. Did that pilot's name happen to be Jeff Moreau?" Max asked crossing her arms. 

"Yea, actually it was. I served on the _Normandy_ with him." Chakwas explained. 

"I grew up with him. Well, more like grew up with him then he abandoned us to become a pilot when I was about 9 years old. Every holiday visit he'd bring back something neat for Hilary and I though. He was like the big brother I never had." Max gave an excited smile.

"Ahh well we also have to do an Allergy test." Chakwas set the data pad down and took out some medical equipment from a desk drawer. 

"I had my standard allergy test already." max stated. 

"Ahh well, the Alliance added a dextro test." Chakwas explained. "It's not really done unless you live on the Citadel when you get the test. The Alliance does it so said soldier knows in the event that they end up fighting with turians or quarians. It would really suck to find out you have a lethal Allergy because you touched some of their blood." Chakwas grabbed Maxes arm and gave a quick poke. Almost immediately her skin started to turn red and swell. "I'd say you shouldn't be touching anything dextro anytime soon. You don't have any history of MCAD or anything like that? I didn't see anything on the files..." 

"Nope. Guess I will be avoiding blood eh?" Max gave a snicker. 

"Yea, and really don't eat their food. You'll go into anaphylactic shock. In fact, just in case take one of these pens. If the _Normandy_ Successful and you end up ground side you might need it." She grabbed an Allergy pen she'd seen some of the kids who were allergic to bees on the colony carry.

"Seems like everyone is giving me something cool to take home." Max teased. 

"Yup, I'm going to take some blood now for the genetic test." Max held her arm out and felt the familiar plunge of a needle into her skin. She still couldn't believe she was sitting on a ship. "Alright I'll let you know if anything we don't know crops up. Go ahead and Meet Engineer Reelf and he will get you straightened out."

...

Max was sitting in front of a pretty average sized drive core. Honestly that how she felt about this ship. It was pretty average, which was nice. An average ship had average expectations. This also meant she knew exactly how to make it sing. That is, if she's allowed. 

"Coleman, We're starting pre-flight checks, here's your list of responsibilities on the check offs, Are you familiar with the old Geneva class cruisers?" Max gave a quick nod looking over the inspection requirements. She'd seen lists of these before when ships would come in for work-ups. 

She walked over to the console and started to run the diagnostics on the engines. Everything looked like it was in place. The console gave a quick beep and she looked over the numbers. 

"uh, Engineer Reelf?" she called him over. "The consoles giving me a pretty low PSI for the Eezo compactor on the other side of the core. Am I allowed to go check it out, I don't know what standard procedure is or anything... Also, if we have an Eezo leak we need to get that fixed or she'll never make it through the next FTL jump." 

"Shit, that must've happened on our last jump to FTL. Why didn't the Citadel alerts pick it up when we docked? Alright put your suit on, I'll get mine. Two heads are better than one, I'll alert Captain Abraham." The engineer was already pulling up his com when Max started quickly donning her suit."Well once this is taken care of we'll need to al head over to Chakwas for an examination. Well, good to know your first day there's an Engineering emergency." 

"What better way to train than this?"Max cut the power to the core so she wouldn't be burnt to a crisp walking in it. She engaged the dischargers then climbed over the console and walked around the core. "Found it, looks like the Pilots over clocked the thrusters." Max was looking at a small hairline crack in the compactor "There's not short cuts on this one we need a new compactor." 

"Captain Abraham is gonna love this. We just had people in here working and what did they do? Damn. Slack off and didn't check the systems. Abraham's not going to be pleased about this." Engineer Reelf let out a sigh. 

Max reached up unhooking the broken compactor. The drive core on this ship was equipped with 16 compactors. That meant they were all small enough for a person to lug in and out without throwing a disc. She held it crack up so as not to lose any of the precious eezo dust and brought it around to show the Chief Engineer. 

"Good catch for your first day." he complimented. 

"Well, minus the two year break I've been around ships at the docking port since I could walk. I also have a knack for remembering numbers. Geneva class ships have eezo cores like granite. I can listen to them and hear the mistakes, it's almost as if the engines speak to me. I enjoy the older class ships, mostly because I'm most familiar with them So I feel more competent working on them." She looked over at the powered down drive core. "Not to mention they are beautiful to look at. The newer ones have an edge because everyone thinks bigger is better, and in some aspects that's true, for example, we'll never be able to stealth as long as the _Normandy_ can. We can't soak up as much of the excess and hold it to hide our thermal readings as long."

"This is true. We aren't meant for stealth recon mission quite like the _Normandy_ but you'll find we can get the job done. When the boys up top are paying attention and not over clocking the thrusters." He took the compactor from her and pulled out a blue paint pen. He circled the hairline fracture in the alloy and set it aside. He popped his omni tool interface up and punched in some command codes. "The captain will probably come straight down here when he reads that report." 

The drive core was about the size of the average human. When working humans pushing past 6 feet tall would have to duck so as not to hit their head on the inward curve of the drive core. "So what's our pilots' drift?" She asked. 

"They average about 25k kilometer." He responded with a grimace. 

"I knew a guy who would cut that in half." She grinned. "Mind if I take a picture on my omni tool of that compactor?" 

"Sure." He responded mildy. 

She took the picture and sent Joker a message about her first day on the job. She may have mentioned something about incompetent pilots in there. He probably didn't need an ego stroke but she gave it to him anyway. It would be a while before he responded to her message, probably wouldn't even know she messaged him until he passed by this comm buoy. 

Her head shot up when she heard someone enter the engine room. 

"So I hear we have damage that went unreported?" Captain Abraham asked. 

She saw Reelf snap his salute and she awkwardly followed his example. "To be fair, the PSI was only readying a few percentage points under where it should normally be. They probably didn't realize there was a problem." Max interjected. "they probably didn't notice it. On the bright side, we caught it before the ship took off otherwise it would have blown the next time we went into FTL. So instead of a minor explosion and a fair amount of eezo lost and several dead engineers we can easily replace it if we have a new compactor." 

"At ease private, Chief. Well, glad to know Shepard didn't lie about our little protege here." The captain gave a warm smile when he said that. Max was still trying to figure out if he meant it condescendingly or if he was just a very awkward Captain.

"No, uh, sir. As a matter of fact, I know about 48 different ways to make this drive core more efficient than it's already running, but I'm betting at least 46 of the are against Alliance regulations. I worked on privately owned and Alliance ships growing up on Tiptree." She saw the Captain's face fall as she said that. "What? I'm not going to break any regulations playing with the engines you know." 

"No, it's not that. You might want to sit down for this." He sighed. 

"Tiptree?" She asked evenly. 

"Yea, a couple days ago we lost contact." He put a hand on her shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. 

"I'm fine. My family's been dead for a couple years now. Mom died when I was 3, dad died right before I left for the Citadel. It's strange, but I'll be okay. Gives me more reason to want to help kick some Reaper ass though. Uh sorry for the language." She shot her head down right as she realized she let a curse out in front of the Commanding officer. 

"It's fine, Coleman. Just keep your head in the game and I may talk to you about some of those upgrades later. First we need to get the Compactor replaced. Chief I'll give you temporary clearance to the funds to get it. Report back to me in an hour tops." He turned back to Max. "Good work kid. Keep it up. Show these gear heads how it's done for me." 

"Yes sir." She turned back to the engine. She was used to sitting on a dead ship, but she was sure the other soldiers on this boat felt a little uncomfortable. Not everyday the ship gets powered down. Most mechanical work can be done while the ships still activated, but the second you have to enter the drive core it's all shut down. 

...

Three hours later and she was reinstalling the compactor she heard a few voices enter the room. Her gloved hands gripped the hose that was sucking the eezo out of the old compactor and back into the new one. 

"Did you hear what happened? It's all over Alliance Chatter. Commander Shepard cured the genophage!" the female voice exclaimed. 

"That's going to bite us in the arse later." The accented male voice responded. He sounded like he was from the London area if she had her accents correctly. If she had a credit for every villain with that accent....

"Yea, I'm a little concerned about it but it was the only way to get the turians to budge. I don't know what they are working on but there's scuttlebutt about a massive weapon of some sort." The girl had a hint of a southern Texan accent. 

"Yea I heard that too." He agreed. 

Max pulled the suction tube off of the old compactor and hooked it back into the eezo tunnel. She picked up the old part and made her way out of the drive core. She noticed first that the girl had fair skin and extremely light blonde hair. The guy had his head shaved completely both pairs of eyes fell on her and she pulled herself over the console. 

"Oh hi." The darker skinned girl held out her hand. 

Max just gave her a nod and placed the broken compactor in the container for bad parts. 

"I'm lieutenant Hull and this is Engineer Voss." The woman introduced. 

"Just call me max." She set starting to unclip the painful suit. 

"You can call me Vince." Vince offered. "I'm you're shift replacement." 

_Vince Voss? His parents much have hated him._ "Oh is it shift change already?" Max asked. 

"Yup. You have 12 hours all to yourself now." Vince grinned. "Better get some sleep." 

"Uh, sure." She sat down on the bench unclasping the knee supports in the suit. 

"Whats the special suit for?" The girl asked. 

"Joint stability." She answered quickly. 

"You look like it hurts." She answered. 

"Yea, it does." She answered rubbing her sore muscles. Wouldn't matter if the suit was tailored to her forcing parts of the body to hold in a position it doesn't normally causes pain. plain and simple. 

_I'm never going to remember everyone's name. Give me a set of numbers I'm golden but placing a name to a face, not so much. Well I should remember Vince, with a name like Vince Voss it's hard to forget._ She thought. She awkwardly made her way out of the room and headed up to the sleeper pods for some rest. She wasn't tired but she should at least lay down. That was her best option at this point.


	3. Jokes on me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max meets up with Joker while he's on shore leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys sorry this one is short I had a bit of a depression spurt while writing on part one so I needed a break from it, but the next part I had doesn't fit inside this Chapter. By the way I want to warn you guys that a large portion of Priority Earth will be in this segment as opposed to the other one (don't worry I won't take away the Garrus goodbyes that would just be rooood.) 
> 
> You'll see how next Chapter Stay Tuned and the longish prologue and character introduction (being the main character of this portion of the story will finished and we can move on to the meet of this story arch.)

Max ducked between two drunken soldiers. She recognized them from her ship and shook her head. The world was devolving people into idiots that's what it was doing. She scanned the familiar scenes of purgatory until she saw the man sitting at a table with an assistance mech. Or in this case, an AI, but few were privy to this minor detail. She pulled out a chair from the table and sat down. 

"Well Max, fancy seeing you here." He greeted. 

"I cannot believe we are on shore leave together. We got so lucky!" She grinned. 

"You got so lucky. I however was used as bait by my Commander, against herself." Joker sighed. "You really can't trust anyone anymore."

"What are you talking about Joker. Be straight with me don't talk all metaphysical I don't buy that shit, so don't sell it." She knew there was more to the story but she had to give him hell where she could. 

"Well you see, Cerberus decided it would be a fantastic idea to clone the Commander. Then the clone broke out, and went after Shepard's identity. Shepard and I were enjoying our time at that fancy sushi place on the Silversun strip when these merchs we've never seen in our lives showed up to kill Shepard. Oh yea and there was this girl posing as Alliance intel who turned out to be evil but I'll get to that. So Shepard being the quick thinker she is knocks, over our table the second she hears gunshot. Man the commander is fast. She tells me to go sneak out and get the rest of the crew. What she didn't tell me was she intended to use my broken ass body as a distraction so she could get the guys pistol. I could have been Shot! On shore leave! anyway it was a mess." Joker explained the rest of the events in detail occasionally making comments relating back to his unrest with the Commander's use of his life. Max made sure to giggle and nod at the right moments, but she wondered if she really needed to tell him. Should she?

"Joker, your story is great and all, thank you for sharing it. It was a very unexpected but I think there's something you should here." Max waited for the confirmation that his attention was fully on what she was about to say. "A about a week ago we were able to confirm the Reapers invaded Tiptree. It doesn't look good. Uh, not saying your families not alive, more like there's going to be a lot of rebuilding when this wars over. Your family might need you." 

"Thanks for telling me Max. Thanks for not holding that back because I would have been seriously pissed if you hadn't informed me." Joker folded his hands in front of him and sat forward. This was probably the first time in her life that's she'd seen Joker look so serious.

"Yeah, well when the Galaxy's going to shit it's nice to have updates I guess... How's flying around on the Normandy?" Max asked casually changing subjects. She really didn't want to dwell on their home colony being blown to smithereens. 

"Not bad. How about you? Enjoying military life?" It sounded to him like he already knew the answer. 

"Not in the slightest. I mean the Chief engineer is pretty awesome and so is the captain but lets face it, I don't think I'm cut out for this shit long term. Honestly I find myself asking why I'm there anyway. I love working in the engine room don't get me wrong but all the fucking regs? Tell me what to wear, when to eat, how long my hair's supposed to be, how to pin it up if I wanted to grow it out. Hell, half my tattoo's go against regs but at this point they'll take anyone. I mean I know it's stupid to complain about at least I have access to food and medical supplies right now because unless our ship can make the shipments a lot of places don't have them. That's what we are doing, we're running a supply chain because the normal supply lines are all fucked. Since the first day it's been mostly maintenance work, which is really nice for the days I'm in a lot of pain. Nothing extra. Did I mention the food is horrible though? They really don't make military grade food with things like IBS in mind. My colon has been screaming at me since I joined up. I don't know, I find it odd, had anyone else told me to join up I would have told them to shove it, and I could have been killed when Cerberus tried that Citadel take over. So please do tell the commander I appreciate her for uh, saving me life? Sort of? Since you know signing up is pretty much a death sentence now. I don't know what it is about her, she walks up to you with that cocky ass attitude tells you to do something and it's like you're compelled to listen. You know what she said to me? She wanted to give me a tip. A tip? Who the fuck even says that. Wire some fucking creds to my account and let me do my job. I was standing right over there." Max waved in the direction of the table. "Does she have fucking mind control powers or something? How the hell did the council not listen to her?"

Joke gave a weak smile. "I kinda know what you mean. She has a certain, effect on people. Usually it's more of the intimidation factor that the charm so you must've caught her on a good day."

"She had that turian with her, um Garrus?" She asked 

"Ahh, and he has that effect on her. It all makes so much more sense now." Jeff mused. 

"I guess. What are they an item?" Max seemed a little confused. 

"Yup, and the worst part is it feels like neither of them really know what flirting is. They use combat tactics to flirt with each other. It's like watching a train wreck. Oh, Speak of the devil." Joker suddenly stopped talking as his eyes watched from behind her. 

Max turned her head and saw the short woman approaching their table. She had that strut that screamed military as she walked. It was kind of intimidating. 

When Commander Shepard walked up to the table she looked at both of the occupants and pulled out a chair and sat down. Then her gaze fell on Max. "I thought you took my advice. What are you doing here?" 

"Shore leave. Twenty Four hours of avoiding all my new coworkers, which given the fact that I promised to find Joker next time we were both here, I guess I'm doing a pretty bad job of that. Half that group over there," She gave a small wave towards the Alliance soldiers huddled around three tables and yelling at each other over the music. "are actually from my post." 

"Don't like them?" Shepard asked raising an eye brow. 

"Don't know them. No point and making nice if we're all probably going to be shot down and killed. Not to mention the engineering crew on the other shift is pretty much useless. I'm pretty sure the chief is the only one who can tell the difference between a thermal pipe and a charge rod. I've spent the past month imagining he'd eventually make the mistake of touching the charge rod because we make it to a discharge station. Don't even get me started on our pilots." Max looked over at Joker. "My first day I walk into the engine room to find they over clocked the thrusters like a p1 in training. The other shift completely missed the read out. This is why I prefer private work. You fuck up the job, they replace you. Small ships can't afford to throw money into replacing parts like that so the quality of the job is better. The shit-fit the captain through was totally worth it though."

"Do you know what your next stop is? Has Captain Abraham been helping out with project crucible?" Shepard asked the question not sure whether or not Max knew that information. 

"As I was telling joker, we've been in charge of bolstering what little supply lines we have. We made a drop on Earth a while back and Captain Abraham is hoping to do another our next trip out. Last one went relatively smooth, since they upgraded the ship giving it a similar cloaking device as your ship, Commander, although ours can't hold the heat in as long so it's a huge risk..." Max remembered how frantically her and the chief ran around the engine rooms doing everything they could to alleviate the stress on the Eezo core. It was going to be a total nightmare but with the upgrades she'd brought to Abraham's attention she hoped it would be a little bit easier. He finally accepted breaking the regs on the ship so they could get out of this alive. 

"Yea, I was under the impression ships weren't supposed to go into the sol system." Shepard leaned forward. 

"Hackett apparently gave Abraham special orders." Max cynically responded. "Can't wait. It was almost a complete disaster last time."

"I thought you said it went smooth?" Shepard was putting on a sly grin. 

"I said relatively. Smooth as in, we weren't shot out of the sky by a huge lazor. That's pretty much all I can hope for right now. I have a bad feeling about this mission and I don't know why. Maybe I'm just scared, I wasn't cut out for military life. Still not entirely sure why I'm here. My blood never really ran Alliance blue so to speak." Max leaned back in her chair looking at the two people before her. 

"That's just because your dad didn't like the Alliance." Jeff laughed. "I don't think you ever got to truly make that decision for yourself, Max." 

This was a conversation Max and Jeff had never see eye to eye on. Politically Tiptree had always been a divided colony. They serviced Alliance ships that came and went, but it was mostly for the income. It was reliable unlike the the private vessels who came and went and that had been the only reason they serviced them. 

"I think I should go. I need to get some sleep before pre-flight checks are scheduled. Takes me longer to do them on bad days and today hasn't exactly been kind to my body. Better to be safe than sorry." Max gave a nod and stood. She hadn't been lying her right hip and knee had been really fussy today. She pulled her cane out of her bag and activated it. She'd intended to having a conversation with the AI joker had but she honestly was starting to feel exhausted. If there was a next time she'd have a chat. Honestly right now she was too tired.


	4. Solana Vakarian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To think there is an Entire system that shares a name with this character :o
> 
> don't worry, you won't miss out on how she got injured. I decided to skip to the hospital and bring in snippets. I really wanted to get on with the story-line that didn't involve the games so what isn't explained here will be explain in Shepard's perspective either in here or in the first part of this story.

Max was greeted by a nurse upon waking up and she smiled down at her. The first thing Max noticed was she couldn't feel her right arm. She tried to lift it to rub her face but nothing happened. Panic set in and the heart monitor started beeping rapidly as her heart rate skyrocketed. 

"What's wrong why can't-" She lifted her head and her left hand responded lifting on her command. 

"Shhhh, Maxine you're okay. You've been woken from a medically induced coma; you've been out for a month." The nurse leaned down next to her. "You've got some visitors. They are thankful to you. You saved Commander Shepard's life. Would you like to see them?" 

"Uh, sure, but first tell me why I can't feel my arm." Max asked quickly. 

A nervous look crossed her face and she pursed her lips before answered. "Maxine you're being fitted for prosthetics. You're arm and leg were too infected to save."

"How am I supposed to pay for these?" Max asked. She attempted to sit up and the nurse quickly jumped to help her. Her arm was gone, there wasn't even a stub left and she raised her eyebrow wondering how they were going to get a prosthetic on there. Her leg left a stump, half of her thigh was left. 

"You're military service covers it." The nurse answered slowly. 

"Right, so I can assume I'm out, the war is over right?" Max asked looking around. She was on Earth, where she had no clue. 

"Yeah, the war is over. Let me go get your visitors." As the nurse left the room Max leaned back into the pillows and began rubbing her face with her left hand. It took all her brain power to work with her left hand, she was right handed and not having that hand almost confused her. _On the bright side, less joints to dislocate._ She thought bitterly. 

Just then her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and two turians walking in. One was using crutches as her leg was in a cast. They both shared clan markings but Max couldn't place why they looked familiar. "Do I know you?" She asked squinting her eyes in confusion. 

"No, My name is Kaius Vakarian, and this is my daughter Solana. You saved my son's bondmate and we wanted to meet you." His voice was even, but he seemed friendly enough. 

"Um, hi." Max looked out the window and her gaze was met with a cloudy view. She didn't know what to say to them so she waited for one of them to say something. 

The girl on crutches hobbled over to her and took a seat in the chair by her bed. "I thought I wouldn't get the chance to meet her, but they think she will make a recovery."

"Has anyone heard from the _Normandy?_ " Max asked and the two turians exchanged a look. "I guess that's a no. Figures." 

"Who do you know on the ship?" The younger turian asked curiously. 

"The pilot, Jeff Moruea, was a friend of mine growing up. I was just excited to show him up for once." Max said. 

Solana placed a hand on Max's hand. "Well, since we are waiting for the Commander's recovery I'd like to visit you as long as your here if that's alright. It's the least I can do since you saved someone important to my brother." 

"You don't have to. Not sure how long I'm going to be here anyway. They promise me prosthetics but haven't mentioned anything else about my condition." Max shrugged. Her gaze fell on the bunched up sheets where her leg should be. 

"Why does the Alliance hire pilots with brittle bone disease?" The girl asked causing Max to look back at her confused. 

"Uh... Is this a joke or a legitimate question?" Max was caught off gaurd. 

"It's a joke. My brother told it to me. He said he was proud to know that pilot but the punch lines great if you want to hear it." She spread her mandibles in excitement as she spoke. 

"You are way too chipper, but sure go for it."

"So their marines have someone they can beat in hand to hand." Max couldn't help but chuckle at that. "You're brother's on the _Normandy_ too?" Her tone more serious now. 

"Yea, but the ships MIA. It's been a month and since all the relays were destroyed it's fair to assume they are just waiting for the relays to be repaired." Max noted the hopeful look in her eyes.

"Thats... uh... good." Max stumped on her words not feeling exceedingly optimistic. Max attempted to roll her head to loosen the kink when a sharp pain in her neck forced her to stop. She tried to move her head but she couldn't. The pain was worse than anything else she'd ever felt and the cry that expelled from her caused Solana to jump. Max immediately began feeling around for the control to call a nurse. when Solana stood up quickly. 

"Dad go get a doctor, what happened Maxine?" She asked looking over the human frantically. 

Max couldn't speak. The pain was too much and she just lay there trying to stay focused on not moving her head. It wasn't long before an older man was in the room to examine her. Max pointed at her neck with her left hand before realizing she couldn't even swallow. She felt the pain radiating down her arm and finally she lost consciousness. 

...

When she came to she felt something hard around her neck. She raised her hand to see what it was finding a neck brace. _Oh_. She let out a sigh and sat up again. The turian girl was sitting in the chair, but she noticed the older man was gone. She could feel the twinge of pain meds working their magic, but that also resulted in her stomach curdling. She saw a bedpan next to her foot and she tried to reach for it. Solana noticed and quickly handed her the salmon colored plastic tub just as max felt stomach contents pushing it's way up. The turian made a face but just gently placed a hand on her back. 

Max set the pan down in front of her and eyed the girl curiously. "Why are you still here?" 

She looked offended at first but quickly composed herself. Max had spent two years learning the different cues each race gave off while she was dancing in Purgatory. Something even a prosthetic wouldn't find her doing again. "No one else was here. I thought you deserved someone to talk to. It sounds like you'll be here a while. My father is working out details with the turian hierarchy and you seem like you need a friend." 

"What's the prognosis?" Max pointed at her neck. 

"The doctor said scans revealed you had a dislocation. They are going to put a pin in to support your neck. He said you'd been on the bed too long and your muscles lost their strength. Does this happen to all humans? I mean I knew your were squishy but-"

"No. It doesn't." Max answered. "I have a condition. My connective tissues kind of suck at being connective. So instead of having ligaments connecting my joints I might as well have old useless rubber bands." 

"Oh. I see." She helped Max sit back in the bed. "I've spent a lot of time looking after the sick, granted, I was looking after turians I don't know as much about human physiology. I trained to be nurse when my mother got sick, then when she passed I used my skills to help on Palaven when the invasion hit. It's how I broke my leg actually. Luckily for me though, my cast comes off tomorrow." 

Max gave a smile. "Call me Max. No one calls me Maxine. Except doctors, and teachers." Max cursed as she waned to shake the girls hand remembering her dominant hand was gone. She lifted her left hand and the turian quickly grabbed her hand for the shake. 

"You can call me Sol." She answered with a turian smile. 

"Sol, huh? What a... _Radiant_ name." Max smirked. 

"Uh, Thanks." She looked a little shy. 

"Sorry, I was trying to use a pun, but I don't think it crossed the translators well. Sol means sun in Spanish, which subsequently got it's meaning from Latin, a dead language." Max found herself scratching near the G-tube sticking out of her torso. _Guess they are worried about my swallowing_. That was going to leave a nasty scar. "Also is the word used when sight singing. Anyway, since the sun gives off radiation... I think you can make the connection from there." 

"That's a good one." Sol gave a half hearted laugh. 

"You don't sound to convincing." Max teased. 

"Sorry, just a lot on my mind. Can I... touch your hair?" She asked pointing at the top of Max's head. 

"Uh sure." Max wasn't surprised by the request, it was a request made occasionally from some of the other species and if the person asked instead of just touching it she was a lot happier about it. 

"It's yellow near the top." She commented as her talons stroked the strands. 

"Yea, the blue isn't natural." Max confirmed closing her eyes as she felt the comfort of someone playing with her hair cease her nerve endings. 

"Uh, are you okay?" Sol asked freezing. 

"Yea, it's very calming having someone play with it. Uh, the hair itself doesn't have any nerve endings but the scalp does." Max explained. 

"Oh, neat." Sol lightly grazed Max's scalp with her claws. Max wiggled when she felt a jolt in her stomach and her breath caught.

"Okay, none of that. That does other things." Max shivered and she felt the prickle of goosebumps across her skin. 

"Oh sorry." Sol let go and gave a quick awkward smile. 

Max chuckled "It's fine, you aren't he first and you won't be the last to make that mistake." 

"Your hair feels interesting. It's a little oily." 

"That's because It hasn't been washed. I've been sitting in the bed for who knows how long." Max chuckled. "If you're still around when I'm up and about I'll let you feel its after it's had a good washing. My treat since you insist on keeping me company." 

Sol gave a happy smile at that realization. "I think that would be interesting as well." 

...

They spent the weeks it took for Max to get fitted for cybernetic prosthetics and the rehab to regain her muscle strength chatting and learning about each other's lives before the war. Max learned about the genetic condition Sol's mother had, sol learned more about Max's condition. Max learned about the distant relationship Sol had with her brother, one she often was sad about, wishing they'd had more time to mend the broken bridges he'd burned. Sol learned about Max's life growing up with only her dad. They quickly became friends once they realized they also had a lot in common when it came to tech. Long before Sol was trained as a nurse, she'd wanted to patent a few mods for weaponry. She spent a great deal of time learning how to mod weapons and omni-tools while she worked in the military, and Sol enjoyed learning about Max's time working on ships. Max admitted she wasn't as good with weapons and omni-tools, mostly because she hadn't really studied them much. Sol Promised to teach her how work with weapons once she was out of the hospital. By the time they introduced her prosthetics in pt she'd already had two surgeries on her neck to stabilize the vertebrae without damaging her spinal column. So far they seemed to work because She now had a normal range of motion in her neck, well, Normal for her. 

Sol helped hold her down as the prosthetics were engaged to her body. The right arm was connected directly to her shoulder joint, the right leg connected to the stump. They'd taken some extra precautions on her leg replacing what was left of the muscles with a synthetic self healing polymer which would stabilize the extra weight of the metal limb. The doctors confirmed that this would result in no dislocations in her right hip. 

"So why haven't they treated all of my ligaments with this stuff?" She asked excitedly testing, flexing the new metal fingers which replaced the empty space. It had taken several hours for the brain implant to learn to react to the new limbs. She didn't have full functionality yet, the actions were delayed and the movement wasn't quite aligned with what she was used to, but the doctors told her that's what the PT was for. 

"We can't just replace every joint in your body with this, you still need blood flow to your surviving limbs." The doctor explained. "However since these limbs are cybernetic, you're pretty much part robot." The doctor gave her a wink then directed her in the exercise once more. 

"I do enjoy being part Robot." Max smiled. She was thankful for the new limbs, and she was glad she didn't have to pay for them because they were expensive. 

"Alright please try to stand up Max." The male doctor asked. 

Max shifted into a sitting position allowing for the delay in her replacement limbs before slowly standing. The doctor then started measuring her hips and spine, checking the alignment before looking at her from the front. A frown creased the top in his forehead as he took down some notes. 

"What is it?" She asked nervously. 

"Well you're cybernetics fit perfectly, it's your left leg that doesn't." He answered simply. 

"Doesn't that mean the cybernetics don't fit?" Max quipped scratching her head with her left arm. 

"Actually no, if you're knee wasn't unstable it would fit. So unfortunately you have two choices now." The doctor stated simply. "Either you spend a long time in physio learning how to cope with the adjustment, or you're left leg is going to cause you a lot of pain." 

"It's caused me pain since high school nothing new there, but I'll definitely try the extra PT." Max agreed. 

"Alright I'll send your friend back in. Don't strain yourself, but feel free to walk around. The limbs are waterproof so you don't have to take them off to shower." With that he walked out of the room and Max practiced a few staggered steps keeping hold on the long metal pole that held her medicine and machines. 

Sol entered the room and gasped. "Look at you Max!" Max gave a smile and gave a slow salute with her cybernetic arm. Using the new limbs was tiring. She felt the sudden fatigue wash over her and used what strength she had left to get back into the bed. Solana sat down in her seat. 

"So there's been an update on the Commander." Sol announced. 

"Oh? How is she?" Max asked. 

"They got in touch with the person who headed the project that brought her back before to work on her implants. Physically she can't function without them. She's been in a Coma this entire time hooked up to machines because the implants went out when the crucible fired." She explained. 

"Then how was she breathing when I found her?" Max asked. 

"She still had one working lung, only one of her lungs were cybernetic." Sol's announcement pushed Max into her memories. 

_Her body hurt but she rewrote the power into her suite. Her arm and leg screamed with each step but she pushed through it, the body that had fallen from the sky caught her attention and she wanted to see who it was. It wasn't the usual type of fall, the woman's body glowed biotic blue and just before she hit the ground her force had substantially slowed to a halt. Max pushed past the bodies, human and otherwise, the shine of dog tags caught her eye._

_They're breathing! Max thought and the tags shined with each movement. She pushed through the pain staggering over to the body. Half of her face was burnt. The N7 logo on the front of her tags told Max who it was before she even had another second to question it. Max noted the armor was melted to her skin in many places, and the uneven rise of her chest caused her to worry. She shoved her fingers into her neck searching for a pulse. She found one but it was weak._

_She sat down and pushed open her omni-tool throwing a call for help into the emergency comm which had finally opened. With the Reapers no longer blocking the signal she hoped help would come. In the rubble, Shepard was the only other sign of life she saw. She was long out of medigel from fighting for her life and she could smell the blood from her body. She gave a sigh and grabbed the woman and began walking back towards the camp. Every time she stopped for a break pinging to emergency comm line for help, and each time receiving no response. Thank god this suite could make up for the fact that her arm and leg were barely working, and it took on the extra wieght of the woman she carried on her back._

_Every time she stopped for a break she thought about the burden this woman had carried on her shoulders, like it or not, this was the least Max could do. That's what pushed her all the way to the front gates. Only a few soldiers were left from the fall back command but they received her and the Commander. Only once another soldier and removed the woman's body from her shoulders did she finally collapse into the ground. She could feel the fever that had set in, and somehow, as sick as she felt, as horrible as she felt, she lost consciousness with a smile on her face._

"The days kind of run together here, how long has it been since the war ended?" Max asked curiously. 

"Four months. You're halfway there if you think about it this way. Four more months and you're out of here." Sol gave a pat on her shoulder. 

"What's left out there? Not much I presume." Max noted. 

"I'm sure you'll be able to find work with your knowledge. That's the kind of knowledge we need right now. In fact, the first relay is almost finished here. My dad's been helping with efforts to get my people home." A little bit of pride shown in her eyes. 

"Have they put a new council together?" Max asked. 

"Yeah, in payment for working together in the war, they awarded the krogan a seat. I don't remember all the new councilors names, but General Corinthus took over the turian seat. They haven't elected a human yet. Word is they want to offer Shepard the seat if she makes a full recovery. That's just a rumor though." Sol seemed "One of the military guys is standing in currently. I think they call him Hackett." 

"Oh. I don't know him personally." Max gave a sigh. "At least they are all working together. Imagine what could have happened." 

"Not entirely sure it's perfect, there's still the usual tension. I don't understand how you guys can handle the cold here." Sol grabbed a blanket she'd been keeping in the room and curled in the chair under it. She had a place she slept at night but the blanket was to keep her warm when she visited.

"Ha, I barely do. My body struggles to regulate it's internal temperature so my toes turn blue when other humans are just fine. I'm not 100% sure what causes it, I just know that it happens." Max shrugged. "Enough of that, look at my bitchin' arm and leg. I've been wondering if I can mod them once I have full control. The doctors said teaching my brain to use these new neural links takes time. It would be easier if I were younger, but thankfully I can still do it all the same." 

"Well, let me see." Solana took the mechanical arm and began shifting it around in her grasp. "There's definitely potential. I'll have to do a lot of research before we commit to work on this but if you can trust me I think we can come up with some pretty... bitchen'" Sol repeated slowly.

Max laughed as she corrected the pronunciation. "Bitchin'."

"What exactly does that mean?" She asked curiously. 

"That is probably the most complicated swear word in the English language." Max giggled. "You sure you're ready for it?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know what you are saying." Sol answered. 

"Well first of all do you know what a dog is?" Max asked unsure if she'd had any knowledge of animals on earth. 

"Not really." Sol stated pulling out her omni-tool to do a search. She tapped onto the screen before showing Max a picture. "This?" The picture was of a white puppy with a brown patch over its eyes and ears and a black patch over its back running with a ball in it's mouth.

Max cracked a smile and let out a shrill sound that surprised Solana. "Oh my gosh that is the cutest picture, yes that's totally a dog." Max felt heat on her cheeks when she saw the strange look on the turians face. "Sorry I love dogs. I had a couple growing up but they eventually died, they don't have a very long life span in comparison to us humans."

"That's kind of sad." Sol stated. 

"Yea, well back to the original question, a bitch is said to have been a female dog. It's related to a practice that was very old of comparing women to a dog in heat. I suppose the idea was a dog in heat is dirty and wrong. In fact it was used towards men in it's earlier uses to berate them by calling them not only a female but a dirty, dirty female. In any case when women started gaining political ground and started participating it started to be an insult to women more often the describing a female dog or a man. The women that word was meant to insult were the women who were pissed off at the male dominant society we used to have. Eventually those women embrace the word and sort of reclaimed it. There's even more complexity to the word than that, but basically its equating a woman as emotionally unstable, and aggressive. Just three centuries ago you wouldn't see someone like Commander Shepard. She would've grown up to marry some man and have his children. Maybe be a school teacher if she was really ambitious. To say something is bitchin' has turned from a negative word that degraded people and turned into something that's neat. Maybe it's better to say good. I'm not sure if the word neat translates over well. Silly idioms." Max gave a smile when she was done explaining. 

"We have inequality, but ours is a lot different. Ours was and is still based on the family you're born into, the colony you originate from, that sort of thing. Women and men have pretty much held the same rolls. I guess Gender wasn't really an issue for us." Sol shrugged. "That is really interesting though from an outsider's perspective." 

"Hey, you can ask me questions about humans all day and I'll answer to the best of my ability. I can't speak for everyone but I can tell you what I know." Max smiled. 

"I guess I kind of want to learn as much as I can so I don't offend Shepard. She's important to Garrus and I want him to come home and stay home." She let out a sigh. 

"How did you manage to get on Earth?" Max asked curiously. "I haven't asked." 

"Oh well those who made it off the transports from Palaven ended up on the military ships. We all have military training so we don't really have civilians like you humans do. Just the young and the elderly who can't fight worth shit anymore." Sol gave a chuckle and her subharmonics buzzed with excitement. "So basically since the relay was destroyed we're been living off of emrs and quarian food. Those with a need to be planet side go through a temporary customs and here I am."

"Ahh. I can't wait to get out of here." Max sighed her gaze catching on the horizon outside of her window. 

...

Pt left Max exhausted, her muscles and her head ached from the rigorous exercises. Most days she would come back with the smallest progression. Her reaction times slowly progressing to normal. Some of the tests they would do in her room while she was sitting in her bed while others required her to stand, to move, but it didn't matter all of them left her exhausted. Some days Sol would be there to encourage her, other days she'd be along just her and the bike or the treadmill, just squeaking out that extra few steps. She had one month left of Pt before they felt safe releasing her. Once she was released she'd have to come back for outpatient PT but at least she could start carving out some semblance of a life in the post war world that was Earth. 

Currently the doctor was working on her fingers fine motor skills. A simple test where she repeatedly pressed a button for each finger, testing the speak and accuracy of her cybernetics. She didn't have to concentrate as hard on this test as she had needed to in the beginning, her implant was making vast improvements allowing her the use of her arm. She could even hand write for a while, although the letters looking like a kids scrawls across paper. It was a skill that many didn't learn anymore, with the rise of technology a fair amount of schools had stopped teaching handwriting. Her's still taught it. 

The doctor gave her a smile and asked her to stop before smiling. "Maxine, we've been discussing an early release. you've improved much faster than we imagined you would and have decided that you are fit to leave, but you will need to come back three times a week for outpatient Physio." 

Max felt a grin spread across her face and she looked over at the turian sitting in the extra chair in the room. Sol mimicked the expression, spreading her mandibles in a smile. "I'd like that. When can I sign out?" she asked. 

"As soon as I come back with the proper paperwork, you'll have to get your medical supplies from here on a weekly basis since there aren't any pharmacies up and running yet." The doctor confirmed. "Honestly this works out a lot better for now. No middle man, you know how it goes."

"Yeah, thank you." Max gave a nod of her head. 

The doctor left taking his smaller equipment with him leaving the two women alone. 

"So what are your plans?" Sol asked cautiously. 

"Don't have much of one. I'll play it by ear." Max answered. "Maybe I'll find out if there are any shipyards left to work in or something like that." 

"Sounds reasonable. Do you need a place to stay?" 

"No, no you've done enough Sol, I don't want to burden you." Max answered hastily. 

"It wouldn't be a burden, you might still need help if something happens and the apartment dad and I are staying at is relatively nice. I had already discussed it with him and he agreed to welcome you if you need a place to stay, with so many people displaced it's hard to find proper housing right now." She explained softly.

"If it will make you feel better sure." Max finally agreed. 

When the doctor returned he handed Max a data pad and the duffel bag which contained the little bit of property she had left. Luckily it contained her cane and several braces for the bad days she knew would lie ahead of her. Max found herself flicking one of the rings on her organic hand as she waited for Sol to call the older Vakarian on her comm. Once she shared the news Max left the hospital catching a skycar to the housing that had been repaired during the time she'd been in the hospital. 

...

Max eventually found herself working at the shipyard just outside of London. Many ships were still needing repairs so finding technicians who were somewhat able bodied had been a nightmare for the skeleton crew. She asked about a job and was placed the next day. She was glad they were desperate enough to fill the positions to work around her schedule, but it wasn't long before she was feeling the strain of being overworked. She was only working 8 hour days but she'd come home exhausted and sleep rest rest of the night away barely having enough energy to eat once she made it to the Vakarian apartment. They'd set up a room for her to stay in, both turians would regularly check in on her and she was thankful. Eventually though she wanted to get into her own apartment. She felt a bit of an outsider, she didn't know these people and their generosity bothered her a little bit. Why? 

About a month into her stay She'd received some whine from a coworker at the shipyard as a celebration for making it onto the full time team officially. At first she didn't know how to take the gift. They guy had been flirting with her since the day she started work. His name a Jared. He seemed nice, but Max had told him on several occasions she didn't have the time or the energy to get involved with anyone, in all honesty she really didn't want to get involved. She needed to get her life situated so that she was independent before she even considered that. He respectfully backed off but she was weary of the gift. 

She walked into the apartment handing her satchel on the hook by the door as she always did, grabbing the bottle out and sitting it down at the small table while she heated up her food in the small cooker. She wasn't surprised when the female turian was walking through the door about the time her food was announcing it's final heat cycle had completed. She seemed pretty excited and sat down at the table waiting for Max to eat. 

"Hey you." Max greeted setting her prepackaged food down on the table before slowly easing herself into the seat. 

"She's awake." Sol announced with excitement. 

"So why aren't you with her?" Max asked popping a nugget into her mouth and chewing. 

"Well it's a bit complicated." Sol sighed. 

"Oh?" Max asked after swallowing the first bit of her food. 

"She kind of freaked out when she saw me. She's never met me before and when she saw my markings..." Her voice trailed off. "She went into hysterics, apparently she's not exactly happy to be alive." 

"Wait, she's unhappy about breathing? What happened?" Max asked with genuine curiosity. 

"We don't know, but Miranda Lawson is working on getting to the bottom of it. They think it's psychological trauma but they aren't certain yet. She just woke up today. They didn't schedule her to wake up for another couple of months though... She just did." The female turian seemed a little nervous about the whole situation by the way her subharmonics wavered. 

"She'll come around." Max tried to sound positive but she really didn't know the Commander well enough to be making promises like that. 

"So what's this?" Sol asked poking the bottle. 

"It's a Merlot." Max answered evenly. 

"Well, why aren't you drinking it?" Sol asked. 

"I'm still trying to figure out why it was given to me to be honest." Max answered truthfully. 

"Well you can't just let it sit around. You humans sure are strange." Sol teased 

"Sure I'll crack it open eventually, but right now I just want to eat and get some rest." 

"Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, as you humans say, but do you think I could join you?" Sometimes the forwardness of Sol caught Max off guard. 

she paused her fork halfway between her food and her mouth and raised an eyebrow. "I uh, wasn't aware you liked humans like that." Max responded as heat filled her cheeks. 

"I wasn't either." Sol's posture grew tense when Max didn't give an answer right away. Max hadn't really considered this outcome in their friendship at all. She didn't know how she felt about it either and that bothered her.

"Look sol, um, I don't know how to say this but I'm allergic to you. Not entirely sure something like that is a good idea-" 

Max was interrupted when when Solana pulled a syringe from her bag. "It's an antihistamine." 

"uh, well then... uh." Max was sure her face was on fire with the amount of heat she felt flooding her face. "How about this. I'll let you lay with me tonight, no sex, but if you're just looking for comfort I can give you that. If you're looking for something more, well, I'm going to need time to think on it." 

Max shoved the bit of food that had spent the past minute floating in between her plate and her mouth as she waited for Sol to say or do something. It was at that moment they heard the door chime announcing Kiaus Vakarian had returned from his meetings with the turian hierarchy. Sol quickly shoved the medicine back into a bag and tried to look innocent. Max had to admit for having a detective for a dad she was really bad at it. Max felt a smile tug at her face as she watched Solana wringing her hands nervously. 

"Good evening you two. I hope you aren't up to anything troublesome. Although I guess that hope is moot given the look on my daughters face." He walked into the kitchenette and started looking for some food to prepare for himself. 

"Oh you know, the usual." Max shrugged. "You know, you get two women together and they gossip about all the boys in the neighborhood." Max passed a sly smile to Sol who's eyes widened in shock at her brash comment. 

"Is that so?" He asked mildly. 

"Oh yes, in fact, it seems Mr. Dock-worker-Jared is all about repopulating earth." She cast a glance over to the wine bottle still sitting on the table. "I had to inform him that the cybernetics weren't genetic. Politely of course." 

The elder turian gave a chuckle before tossing a prepackaged meal into the food heater. "You say the strangest things sometimes." 

"It's my witty charm. Also engineers dig the robo arm." Max leaned forward placing her elbows on the table, the mechanical appendage whirring as it moved. 

"What about the robo leg?" He asked. 

"Well, since it's rather chilly I've been wearing pants, I don't think they realize it's robotic yet. Pretty sure it would only add to the appeal though. What can I say, I'm the tinkerers wet dream." Max cast another glance at Sol causing her to dip her head into her hands. 

"What?" He asked genuinely confused. 

"Oh, must be a human thing, never mind." Max shrugged. "The specifics aren't important. In any case I had to let him down easy, My genes aren't exactly what the gene pool needs right now and I'm okay with that. I've got other things in mind, I'm thinking of becoming more career driven anyway. Now's the time to start something while our economic slate is clean."

"Start something eh?" He asked. 

"Well I have until a relay connecting another planet is repaired, sure. If I don't get established before that though I'm screwed on that idea." She looked down at her suddenly empty plate. She gathered her dishes and placed them into the washer. She still wasn't used to the slight clink her new fingers made against the plate.

As the washer closed Max suddenly felt light headed. She closed her eyes, leaning on the counter and tried to focus on breathing fighting back the shortness of breath she felt. Once she thought she had it she turned, mechanical arm still gripping the counter and eased herself a few more steps towards the room she called her own before the black dots announcing her body's exhaustion start swimming in her vision and her arm let go against her will. Now, it seemed her brain would shut off when it was too exhausted. 

"Max?" Max slowly opened her eyes realizing her face had decided the floor would be a nice friend to acquaint itself with. 

"Yeah, yeah," Max sighed but was thankful her breathing had returned to normal. "The side effects of having a sexy robo arm suck sometimes." 

"And leg" the turian reminded her simply.

She saw the older turian offer a hand to help her up and she took it giving him a quick smile of appreciation. "Let me help you to your room." 

"I'll get it." Max sighed stubbornly. "I can do this. I have to push myself if I'm going to get better at this." 

She made her way towards the door behind the kitchenette keeping a hand on the wall for balance. This time she made it into the room with the bed and she sprawled out taking up as much space as she could. Her eyes shut and she swore she was asleep before her head even made it to the pillow.


	5. Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There is talk of suicide in this chapter and a fair amount of gore.

_"Which one?" She asked. Max pointed to the right hip and waited for the pain relief to set in. Chakwas pushed the needle into her hip and plunged the anti-inflammatory straight into the joint."_

_"Oh, I was supposed to come up here yesterday my beta blocker is out." Max informed._

_"I was already aware. You remember I had Joker to contend with on my previous ship." Chakwas walked over to her stalk of medicine and tossed a bottle to Max. She put it in her pocket and waited patiently for her Coworker to return with her exo-suit. Just as he arrived the Ship lurched. Max fell off of the bed she was sitting on and made a second impact with the floor. Red lights started blaring and a shuttle warning started playing through the ships VI._ Shit they were right near Earth... This was not good.

_Both the Alliance soldiers quickly started fitting her into the suit without a second thought. She cooperated and Chakwas grabbed a large duffel and started leading them to the nearest escape shuttle. "What the fuck is going on?" Max ask._

_Chief Engineer Reelf gave a quick shrug before helping Max into one of the pod seats. Chakwas was next and he followed. They waited but no one else seemed to be near for this escape pod. Reelf started getting uncomfortable and finally pressed the button to eject and the shuttle disconnected from the ship. "I guess our cloaking broke early."_

_"Well fuuuuuck." Max sighed. "How close to earth do you think we are I wasn't paying attention?"_

_"Close enough to get sucked into orbit. You have that gun you were issued right?" He asked hopefully._

_"Uh, yea." Max nodded._

_"If we survive impact we're going to need it. hopefully we land somewhere nice and alliance protected." His voice sounded doubtful._

_"That would be too easy." Max sighed. "I was actually hoping to not have to get into the field."_

_Both the soldiers in front of her looked at each other and gave a quick nod to each other. "We're not going to leave you behind. No matter what. We're better off sticking together anway. Chakwas had a ton of emergency medical supplies in that bag in case something like this occurred. Our priority is to find a group of soldier and put it to good use. It will be helpful if any of us are injured getting there."_

_Max cleared her throat. "You do realize I'm already injured?"_

_"I do. We'll find somewhere to rest I promise." He watched her intently. "You have a brilliant mind. I'd like to see you make it through this war."_

The scene changed abruptly. 

_She thumbed at her pistol. It was the only gun she had. Did he expect her to fight? She was a mechanic who barely had any training in anything other than a pistol. She had the capacity to fight with drones and override turrets, but that was only in theory. she hadn't exactly tested it. She opened up her omni tool and set to work trying to update her drone to explode instead of repair. That was probably the best she could do. For the first time since she'd sign that paper she was having regrets. Her stomach churned and her heart was pounding threatening to release itself from her chest. Reelf must have noticed her demeanor because he sat down next to her and watched her work on her omni-tool program._

_"Here, let me help with that." he took her wrist and began inputting codes. "Best thing to do is over clock the tool. Learned that from a quarian on his pilgrimage a few years back. It will reduce to time between activations and it will increase the damage output when your drone explodes."_

_"Thanks." Max gave a smile. "I haven't really messed with my omni-tool settings since I spent most of my time in civilian life. I almost forget that you actually have training to kill people unlike me." Max laughed at that comment. "I have no fucking clue what I'm doing."_

_"It's terrifying." He admitted. "I know it can't be easy. You've got yourself a brilliant mind and when this is over I'm sure the Alliance can find a suitable job for you that doesn't involve a lot of field work. I think you should do it."_

_"You're assuming we survive." Max sighed. "I mean I'm sure you can, I just don't peg my odds very high."_

_"You're tough. Tougher than you give yourself credit for. you'll survive." Reelf placed a hand on Max's should and she turned her head to look at him._

_"Are you just trying to hit on me?" Max was trying to ease the tension with a joke in an effort to move on._

_"Ha, you're hilarious. I try to make you feel better and you assume I have ulterior motives. You are way too young for me." He was completely taken back by her accusation. So much so that his hand immediately left her shoulder and he stood up._

_"Relax, I was just pulling your leg." Max stood up and stretched deciding now would be a good time to put on her suit so when they were ready to move she was ready. She heard the snap, crackle, and pop of her entire spine, hips and shoulders as she did so. "Besides, I sound like I have the body of an 80 year old so to say I'm high maintenance is an understatement. I also prefer women so I had a joke prepared for whatever your response was, but don't worry I only torture the people I enjoy working with."_

_The chief shook his head laughing. "Noted. I'll do my best to keep you alive though. Whatever it takes."_

_"What did I do to deserve such bravado from someone who claims I'm too young for them, hmm?" She crossed her arms trying to look tough._

_"I've told you before, you've got a brilliant mind. We're going to need that to rebuild this planet when we win this." Max just shook her head_

She wanted to keep holding on to whatever memories she could. She was practically grasping for him in her dream like state until he turned around and he saw the bullet hole that had taken out the back part of his head. She woke with a scream. It was dark, but she heard the sound of a door opening in the distance. That sound was followed by the clicking of talons against the floor drawing closer to her room. Damn. She'd woken someone up and now they were going to check on her. There was a quiet knock on the door which Max pulled herself out of bed to answer. 

"You okay?" Sol asked eyeing her carefully for any signs of denial. The turian was wearing some sort of night slip in the blue shade of her markings. 

"Uh, just a bad dream." Max answered quickly. 

"Want me to come in? You did offer earlier..." Sol stated mildly. 

"Alright." Max stepped back allowing the turian access to her room. Sol stepped in and took a look around the darkness. She flashed Max a grin before jumping into her bed and patting in front of her excitedly. 

Max eased herself into bed draping an arm around the turian. She felt sol move her arm up away from the waste a little bit as she purred ever so slightly. "What's with you?" Max asked watching her contemplate where to put her own arm. 

"That particular spot is a bit sensitive." Sol answered easily. "I was just moving your arm up a little so you didn't have an aggravated female turian later on. We can be a handful." 

"Is that so?" Max teased. "I already know you want me. It's the sexy robo arm. You're just like the guys on the dock, they see the arm and BAM it's all they can think about." 

"That's what I like about you Max." Sol answered with a chuckle. 

"Well I just told you that, everybody loves the robo arm." 

"No, no. In the face of all this badness you choose to laugh about it. You remain positive and delightful," Sol rest her crest against Max's forehead before snacking her own arm around Max. 

"That's a terrible reason to like me. I laugh because if I don't laugh I'm just as likely to take that pistol to my head. Actually, I'm not even sure you'd like the real me. I say a lot of things I don't mean because I don't want them to worry or feel bad about me. Sure the arm and leg are cool, but the side effects are sometimes not worth it. I'm so tired all the time, and my left hip hurts from the way the robo leg corrects my right leg. Honestly it sucks, but if I laugh about it, at least others don't have to deal with it with me." Max heaved a sigh as Sol gave a squeeze pulling Max closer. 

"I know." Sol responded softly. 

"Do you?" Max asked defensively. She pulled away and looked the girl in the face. "Do you honestly know?" 

"I spent two years watching my mother whither away and die. I may not have first hand experience but I feel qualified enough to sympathize. Now come here." Sol pulled her in again bringing her back into the embrace. "It wasn't easy for her either. Besides, your sense of humor sometimes reminds me of things my brother would say. It makes me laugh a little bit extra and I enjoy it." 

"Speaking of Family. I'm not going to be flayed alive if your dad catches you in this compromising situation am I?" Max's voice was slow and precise with each word. 

"Probably not. He isn't flaying Shepard, in fact he's still here because of her." Sol buried her hard plated face into Max's neck taking a deep breath. 

"Yeah, but she is the savior of the Galaxy, she can do whatever she wants within reason. I'm just a lowly gear head who enjoy's tech. Respectable, maybe." Max's fingers were lightly dancing across the fabric of her nightwear in long, looping circles. Max felt Sol's breath turn to gentle nips causing Max's breath to catch.

"You okay?" Sol asked after dragging her tongue across Max's clavicle. 

"Yeah... That's really nice," Max moaned. "Maybe I change my mind about waiting, I don't care."

Max felt the bite of a needle piercing her skin and she looked down to see Sol injecting her thigh with the antihistamine. "Good thing I brought this."

Sol climbed on top of the human, spending time nipping all over her shoulders and neck, dragging her tongue across smooth velvety skin. "Mmmm. Sol, you're going to have to tell me what feels good." Max announced. 

"Alright." Sol whispered in between bites. "Try biting on me. Just like I am on you." Max turned her face and nibbled across her neck. She could tell when she found the spot because suddenly Sol stopped biting and started panting. "Just a little bit harder." She urged softly. 

Max did as she was asked and she could feel the vibrations in the woman's chest from her subvocals. "I guess that means more." Max chuckled and began searching for the sensitive places on her waste. Sol grabbed at her night-slip and the second it was over her head she dropped it onto the floor. This gave Max access to her waist and she peered down so she could see what wasn't covered in plates. A lot more of the woman's torso was bear than she expected, her sides were completely exposed and when Max's fringers began stroking she felt Sol buck against her instinctively. "You know, I've never been with someone outside my species before." Max chuckled nipping Sol's mandible. 

"I've been with an asari." Sol stated matter of factually. "It was an enlightening experience." 

Max started pulling her shirt off, followed by and awkward shimmy out of her boy shorts. Max rolled Sol onto her back and leaned forward to turn on the light so she could get a good look at the woman below her. Her plates were a light tan color and her skin just a shade darker. Maxs legs were currently straddling her hips and she was surprised so see smooth leathery skin around the waist but no belly button. Max ran her hands across the leathery thick skin noting the hums that Sol was releasing at her touch.

Max scooted down careful not to lean on one of Sol's leg spurs when she spread her legs. She noted the plates surrounding her hips were much thinner, and more flexible than any other places on her body. She took a moment to acquaint herself with the differences between their species. A slit in her plates greeted her, moist and ready and max drug her fingers across causing the turian below her to jerk her hips with need. Max leaned forward laying kisses all over her stomach and the sensitive sides just before sliding her fingers past the pelvic plates and exploring the woman's core.

Once her fingers were past the plates Max felt a nub, just inside the plates near the top. She noted the keening cry of pleasure Sol gave when her gentle, soft fingers began circling it. Sol bucked her hips against Max's movements, taloned fingers drag across max's scalp. Max kept going, when her fingers began to hurt she ducked her head down smelling the spicy scent of the turians arousal and introduced her tongue. It didn't take much longer after that for the turian to come undone below her. Sol's muscles frantically jerked and her subvocals thrummed with her release. Max gently flicked her tongue, stimulating Sol through the orgasm. 

"I take it you enjoyed that?" Max cockily grinned up at the woman who was catching her breath. 

She answered with an unmistakable affirmation in her subvocals. Max crawled back up laying her arm over the panting turian and pulling her close. Sol turned back to her side sliding her hand between the two women, the blunted talons dragging across her stomach causing Max to giggle. "What?" Sol asked with a confusion. 

"That tickles." 

"I'm sorry, you just have the softest skin I've ever felt." Sol purred. 

"Mmm, thanks." Max moaned with the contact of Sol's tongue on her skin. Max bucked against her trying to stimulate her clit against sol's leathery skin. Sol grabbed Max's waist and held it down as she dipped her head down to lick at her nipples. Max continued to rock her hips against sol humming in approval at the turians ministrations.

\

Without warning Sol began exploring the apex of her thighs rough and hard fingers entering her, while her tongue began stroking Max's clit with renewed fever. Max choked back cries of pleasure and felt her thighs tighten on command wanting her release to take place. Sol kept going pushing Max toward's the end, adjusting her movements based on the sounds that expelled from Maxes throat uncontrolled. Finally Max felt the waves take over, Solana grasped Max's hip with her free hand pinning her down when Max's body began quaking uncontrollably. 

Solana moved up pulling Max close and resting her crest on maxes head. They tangled themselves together and Max was out within minutes. 

...

Max woke to her alarm grumbling. Solana was chuckling at her as she set down whatever it was that she was reading and jumped on top of her. "I thought you humans don't like to work on Sundays?" Solana nipped her earlobe when her words were finished.

"I have other things to do you know." Max grumbled pulling the covers over her head. 

"PT?" Solana asked pulling the covers off of her head. 

"I want to buy a ship." Max announced. "I need to see my home." 

"This isn't your home?" Sol asked slowly. 

"Sol, not all humans were born here... That's kind of silly to think that." Max heaved a sigh wiggling out of the covers and out from under the turian. 

"I don't think all humans are born here I just, thought you were." Sol stated evenly. 

"Naw, I was born on Tiptree. My best friend growing up was there when the reapers hit, I don't have much faith that she made it out, but I can only hope. Subsequently she was miss-savior-of-the-galaxy's pilot. If he makes it back here he'll want to know what happened to her. I plan to find out." Max announced pulling on some warm clothes. The clothes were plain, given to her when she made it out of the hospital courtesy of pro-Alliance groups working to pull Earth together once more. The jeans were a light shade of blue, faded but there weren't any holes in them. She looped the leather belt after tucking her plain black T-shirt in and slid her arms into a warm sweater. She grabbed her bag near the dresser and slung it over her shoulders with the container nestling her hip. She just needed to do a few errands before she could come home and relax.

She passed a wink to the turian who was still sitting there watching her curiously before leaving the room. She walked over to the kitchenette needing to go through her mental shopping list for the week, opening cabinets, checking the fridge when she felt a taloned hand rest itself on her shoulder. Her heart lept up into her throat and she was spun around facing Sol's father. "Oh shit, you scared me." Max gave a quick smile closing the door behind her. 

The look on his face was unreadable as he leaned forward and sniffed her. "Uh, did you just sniff me?" Max crinkled her face at the strange act. 

"Get out and don't come back." He stated evenly stepping back. 

"Uh, okay..." Max felt her stomach lurch. He didn't smell... Oh god. She quickly made her way towards the door leaving behind her extra things and not looking back. She really didn't need a turian ripping her apart with his talons because she slept with his daughter. She was at the market by the time her mind had a chance to really take in what had just happened. She was officially on her own again. She could see if any shelters were open tonight, and after that she could get in touch with the VA to see if there was any temporary housing available in the area so she didn't have to give up her job, she wan't completely fucked. 

Her omni-tool beeped announcing a message and she looked down to see it was from Sol. Without opening it she deleted it and started a search for emergency shelters in the area. 

... Shepard's POV ...

Shepard had groggily woken up yesterday to the sight of a female turian baring the markings of the Vakarian clan. It had caught her off guard and she'd freaked out upsetting the woman who left immediately. At least she remembered doing that, she hadn't felt like she had much control over her thoughts and her emotions had driven most of her words. To be quite frank, the first thing she'd felt was anguish. She was supposed to be dead, yet here she was laying in the bed staring at the markings that belonged to her mate on a different turian and it had upset her. Her chest had tightened and tears pooled in her eyes. Now she was clear headed, the medicine no longer clouding her judgement, she felt bad for the young woman. 

So when the woman appeared that morning, her mandibles held tightly against her face and her hands gripping her arms tightly Shepard sat up and motioned for the chair next to her welcoming her to sit. She did the best she could to give a smile to her hoping it didn't look as fake as it felt. Honestly, she felt numb. 

"I hope I didn't make you feel this badly yesterday, I didn't intend to hurt you." Shepard gave her a sympathetic look and she just stared back. 

"No, this is something else." She answered, her voice sounded small. 

Shepard felt a pang in her gut. "It's not Garrus is it? Where is he?"

"No, we still haven't heard from the Normandy. It was just a spat with my dad, nothing major." The turian leaned back into the seat just as the door opened and Shepard was greeted with Miranda Lawson entering the room. 

"Shepard..." Her voice trailed off. 

"Miranda." Shepard gave a nod of welcome. 

"Seems I've saved your life twice now." Miranda stood by the foot of the bed, her arms crossed and her hip jutting in that cocky stance she loved to stand in. 

"I'm sure you owed me." Shepard teased. 

"Honestly the galaxy owed you." Miranda retorted. 

"Galaxy doesn't owe me a damn thing." Shepard spat. Her time with the start child chilling her. Did she make the right choice? "The geth... Are they..." 

"How did you know?" Miranda asked her face falling slightly and Shepard's question. 

"I had a choice. It would have killed anything with Reaper tech in it, including myself." She could feel the female turian shift uncomfortably at that announcement. "On the other hand it would kill the Reapers. On the other hand there were two more complex options that were a lot more grey than that, but the reapers would continue to survive. I didn't trust the information, although the illusive man was right. There was a way to control them."

"Well. I guess that answers the billion dollar question we've all been asking for the past 8 months." Miranda answered. "The Alliance is probably going to bombard you with questions before we even have time to get you released from this place." 

"As they do." Shepard agreed heaving a sigh. "Who all survived? Is Anderson..."

"Anderson didn't make it." Miranda confirmed. For the first time ever Miranda saw Shepard break. Her face crumbled at the news and her fists clenched tight. Tears began to drop and Shepard came undone. 

"No..." 

Miranda stepped forward grabbed the small human woman and pulling her in tight. "I'm sorry, Shepard. I didn't know he was that important to you." 

"He was like a father to me." She paused looking down at the blankets. "Does anyone know where the Normandy went?" Shepard asked quickly composing herself, wiping away the salty liquid that had dropped from her eyes. 

"We don't know yet. We hope to get in contact with them when more relays have been repaired." She answered.

"Wait we have a relay repaired?" Shepard asked.

"Almost. It's got a couple more weeks of work on it before they fire her up." Miranda informed curiously. Shepard looked down at the wires she was hooked up to and started pulling them out. "What the hell are you doing?" Miranda cried grabbing Shepard's wrists.

"I'm getting out of here. I need to get a team together, a ship, I'm going to find the _Normandy_ and bring her home." Shepard announced. With that the IV was pulled out of her arm and the wires disconnected from her chest. The machine's alarm started and Shepard pulled herself out of the bed looking for some clothes. 

The female turian stood up making her presence known. "Can I come? I'd like to help locate my brother." 

Shepard paused then nodded. "Sure, If you're anything like Garrus you'd be a great asset to the team." 

Shepard gave the turian a soft smile as she thought about her options. Her stomach churned with nerves as she thought about where Garrus could be. Would they starve? Did they have enough supplies to make it. She was thankful she hadn't taken the doctors trade so they would have supplies to keep them going for a while. Whether or not it would be enough she wasn't sure and that was the part that kept her head spinning, her chest heavy, and her shoulders weak. She wouldn't be able to rest well until she knew Garrus was alive.


	8. Losing Commander

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starting out in Shepard's perspective. how she loses her rank in the military

Shepard looked over at the podium she was supposed to speak at. She saw hundreds of people gathered for the speech she was supposed to make. She had only been awake a month when the military began asking for her testimony of what took place on the Crucible. She swallowed the lump in her throat and shoved the anger she felt down. There was no way she would find Garrus planet side but the military wouldn't let her leave. Hackett told her she would be the first to know if they found any news on the but for now she needed to do what she did best. Inspire the masses. Her hands gripped the chair she sat in tightly as Hackett addressed the crowd with his deep voice. Some type of welcome speech. She finally admitted about the choice she had to make about a week ago, and they decided she would explain why the geth no longer functioned but honor their sacrifice in her speech. 

Her eyes met the Primarch sitting on the other side of the stage. Primarch Victus gave Shepard an encouraging nod when he realized she was watching him. General Corinthus had taken the position of Councilor Corinthus and he sat next to the Primarch. 

It was at this point Shepard realized Hackett had gone silent and he was watching her. His hand held out to her as if she had missed something. Realization hit her like a ton of bricks as she quickly pulled herself out of the chair and gave a quick salute. She carefully closed the gap between herself and the podium. Her fingers gripped the podium and she turned towards the audience. It was mostly human, but there was a handful of representatives from all of the alien species who'd made it to the battle of Earth. Each eye was watching her waiting for her to disclose what the new era before them would hold. 

"Hello." Shepard breathed before pausing to scan the crowd for any familiar face. None of them that she could see look familiar, most of the people she recognized sat behind her. "It is with a heavy heart that I stand here today in remembrance of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect our galaxy, our lively hood, and the generations to come after us." Shepard gave a glance back at the tall pillar that still stood where the Citadel had once been connected to the Earth. Though he beam was no longer active, Shepard couldn't shake the eerie chill that held a firm grip on her back. With her muscles still tense Shepard turned back to the crowd gathering strength from Sol who had taken a seat next to her for this ceremony. Shepard requested it. "I was supposed to have made that sacrifice. Honestly There are countless times I should have died, but now twice people have decided I wasn't meant to die. I can't say my life is worth more than those who weren't as lucky as myself. In fact that guilt will probably haunt me the rest of my life. I'm just a soldier. I knew what the stakes were the day i signed up and began training. 

"That isn't what this about. Men, women, and even children fought bravely So that the few who survived could rebuild and restart the society we once had. Not a single being alive today has escaped the depth of loss the galaxy felt when the Reapers invaded. All of us have fought, lost, and suffered in the name of continuity of our species. So, let me remind you that the Alliance is still requesting volunteers to help in rebuilding the next relay. The first of the Relays is deemed completed today. I'm not a scientist, but I can tell you that was no easy feat. We couldn't have done it without help from every species, especially those who just want to go home." Shepard gave a glance in the direction of the Primarch before continuing. 

"In no particular order, Turians, Salarians, Asari, humans, Geth, Volus, Krogan, Batarian, Drell, Hanar, Vorcha, and Quarians, stood together to defend those few who would survive. Now Before I continue, I ask that you continue to set aside the difference between our species and respect one another. You set them aside so we could defeat the Reapers, and I hope you will never dredge them up again. The only way we will be able to make this galaxy great again, is if we continue to get along and help one another grow once more. I don't want to have to fight anymore. We worked too damned hard to save what we almost lost. 

"Most of you are probably wondering why the geth have deactivated. At first we considered not telling you. Keeping that matter disclosed but I decided that wouldn't do. If we are going to work together to cement the progress that was made on this day one year ago, then we need absolute transparency; between our own species, and the rest of the species of the Galaxy. The weapon we created could perform three tasks. My task was easy. I was order to destroy the Reapers at any cost so that was the path I chose. unfortunately, as you are well aware, that meant all things tech would be effected. A third of my own body had been replaced with tech, because as I said before someone intervened. Once again, here I stand addressing you all. Not because the tech in my body wasn't destroyed like the Geth who fought along side us, but because Miranda Lawson, an x-Cerberus Scientist used everything she had to see that I lived. So here I am, giving you a speech that's supposed to inspire you to do better. Live better than those before us. Honestly, I would have rather seen those resources go towards rebuilding the geth consensus. In my eyes that choice was genocide. In hindsight, that choice is a lot harder to live with when you learn that you won't be joining the fallen."

Shepard stopped speaking watching as the crowd stared back in silence. Did they not understand what she said? Was she speaking in a language they didn't know? She felt her knees going weak. her white knuckles reminded her how hard she was gripping the podium to remain standing. Without much warning people slowly began clapping. Clapping? "No." Shepard said watching them continue to clap. "My life isn't worth the death of the Geth, don't you get it?!" Shepard could feel herself shaking with anger at their response. 

She stepped back from the Podium and felt a hand on her Shoulder. She turned her head to meet Hackett's gaze who offered her the seat back and she quickly took it without saying anything else to the crowd.

...

Max had made it into into the federation of Ireland for work at an old ship yard. Her job, repairing ships that would be taken and used by the Allliance, was tiring but rewarding in her eyes. Very few could afford the repairs on private ships which allowed Max the ability to purchase an older model Ship which she hoped would get her into space once enough relays had been repaired. She had no intention of staying on Earth. 

The force was currently working on a Kilimanjaro class Dreadnought for the Alliance while Max spent her free time tinkering on an old Decom Geneva class that she had bought with the credits she'd been awarded after leaving the Alliance. With a full crew she estimated it would take about 6 months to complete. On her own she was looking at two to three years of work to get it running. Then of course she'd have to find enough people who wanted off this planet as badly as her.

Max had decided to spend her Friday night at the pub down the road from the shipyard that had been largely untouched in the small town. She'd gotten to know a few of the crew and they went every Friday to kill some brain cells and free time away from the laborious work the shipyard offered. Tonight she shared her time with a Japanese couple, Nami and Ando, and her Irish friend Dylan. 

Ando and Nami Sokoi had married not even a year ago, they had met in prep school and formed a rock band that had done well for them. They had been on a label for two years and touring world wide when the Reapers hit displacing them and taking the lives of their three other band members. They didn't know a whole lot about ships when they found this job, but they were paid for the labor they did and they took direction well. Both were fair skinned, with pitch black hair, Nami sporting sea green eyes, while Ando's were a deep chocolate colored brown. 

Dylan, was a native of the area, carried her tall slender form with confidence. Her mother owned the place and she had spent her life rummaging in the old broken down ships, some relatively nice, while others were old enough to bear large rusted out cavities marring their original forms. Her sand colored hair was always tied in a braid down her back and what she lacked in mass she made up for in excitement and spirit. Given everything that had happened she seemed at peace. 

Max knew they were all hard workers, and she hoped they would take the offer she planned to give them this evening.

Max stepped into the pub acknowledging the glowing pub sign in the window. She removed the jacket from her shoulders and tied it around her waste, knowing the heated building would have her sweating in minutes. She quickly noticed Ando and Nami sitting at a tall table sipping from their drinks. They hadn't worried with changing out of their work cloths. Likely that's why Dylan wasn't here. Dylan loved dressing up any chance she got. Even a night out with friends in a pub required tights, some classy sandles, and a dress that went down to her knees. It would be a bit before Dylan caught up with them. 

"Max-a-million hows it going?" Nami asked snapping a grin in her direction. 

"Not bad. I'm excited to have tomorrow off from work. it's been tiring, and I'm glad the orders are slowing down. I doubt this break will be for long though with the relay getting repaired." Max found herself rubbing away the tension from her temples. 

"That's likely true." Ando agreed. The Japanese couple passed the drink templet over to Max so she could settle on her poison for the evening. 

"You know, we haven't really had a chance to talk about long term plans. What do you guys want to do with your lives now?" Max asked trying not to specify anything in particular. 

"You mean since half of our band is deceased?" Nami responded. 

"Well, when you put it like that... I mean what do you and Ando want out of your future." Max corrected

"I'm hoping Nami will let me help with re-population of the Earth." Ando teased raising his eye brows suggestively at the woman next to him. 

"Of course that's what you want." Nami rolled here eyes. 

"We need at least three children to make an impact on the number of people there will be 20 years from now. however, Max over here refuses to participated in that activity so we should make up for it by having five children at least." Ando reached over stroking the dark haired woman's chin. "I did always want to be a dad."

"Uh, huh. I think day care will get expensive. you'll have to take over and be a stay at home dad. I enjoy my job too much." Nami grinned deviously. 

"Deal." Ando

"So you are done with music?" Max asked carefully. 

"Well, not really. I mean some guys from the label survived and so our company isn't dead. they've been asking us about reforming with other survivors. They want to spread a message that our culture wasn't locked down. Although I doubt many people really want to listen to the type of music we produce right now." Nami explained with a small smile. "Not much room for it around all the unifying ideas flying around right now. It will just depend. We don't have any equipment so the company would have to scrounge but I'm not sure if it would be the same or not."

"What if..." Max thought for a moment. "What if I offered you a deal." 

"That would depend on the deal Miss Million." Nami responded with a short smile. 

"Well, I'm trying to get a crew together. I've already purchased a ship. It needs a lot of work though. A new FTL drive coil, FBA couplings GZR cabels since the old ones seemed to have melted, There's a short I still have to locate and they entire life support system needs an overhaul. That's just getting the boat in space. There's an even longer list of the more minor problems that will need repaired to take her out of the system. If you guys wanted to continue your music we could visit settlements and hold events for those trying to rebuild. Give them something to work for ya know?" Max explained watching Nami's face unchanging. 

"I don't know. I mean sure we're the entertainment but we don't have any experience running a ship. We've been passengers but to me it seems like extra mouths to feed." Nami sighed. 

"Well, you two a good at following directions. You do well at the ship yard, so I was thinking if you're interested I could use help rebuilding. If you choose to come along, you could use your ability to follow directions to be helpful and not feel like just passengers. In fact, If I can make any money running supplies I will and I'll pay you for your work. I'll do everything I can to make sure there's food on the table every night. It may not be gourmet, but no ones eating like a king right now." Max typed in her order sliding her shit to pay for the scotch. "Think on it at least. I'm offering Dylan the pilots seat since I know she graduated from flight school." Max set the templet and leaned onto her elbows. The metalic one clinking against the table. 

"We will have to think about it." Nami decided. "No decision tonight but I'd like to take a night to think of all the possibilities with Ando." 

"I like the Idea Nami." Ando answered. 

"I'd still like to think about it." Nami answered. 

"You know what, That's perfectly fine." Max smiled when the drink was placed in front of her. 

It was at that point that Dylan joined them. 

...

As they were leaving the pub Max stumbled against the tall blonde who'd shown up just in time for round four. "Dylan!" Max giggled.

"I'm glad we're leaving I think you've had enough." Dylan latched onto Max's mechanical arm trying to stable her against herself. 

"Why don't we fix up a ship and get the hell off this rock?" Max offered completely forgetting her plan she'd spent all day cooking up. 

"And go where?" Dylan asked skeptically. 

"They are repairing the relays. In fact our relay is done." Max offered with each careful step. 

"They are going to need to repair more than one relay to go anywhere worth while." Dylan teased. 

"I just hate it here. The broken buildings like broken promises. Mass graves a constant reminder of our mortality; how easily those monsters almost snuffed us all out. The friends..." Flashes of a head half burned away broke her words. Blood spattered across her hands and torso as her chief engineer fell to the ground. Her throat screamed in pain. The lump that had formed threatening to take away her voice for good. She took a deep breath trying not to let her body betray her. At that moment she realized Dylan had stopped and was holding her tight. Not letting the heavy weight of her body fall to the ground, but embracing her in a soothing, but friendly hug. Max shook her head. "The war has taken so much from everyone. no one is left unscathed. That doesn't mean we have to sit her and constantly be reminded of it." 

"So you want to escape." Dylan finished. 

"Yeah, I really would. I thought leaving London would help. It's not good enough. I want to visit tip tree. After that, I just want to stay in outer space floating, not looking at the destruction. Maybe it will be easier when it's not so obvious, but I'm not really sure it will." Max admitted pulling away and letting herself fall the the curb. "I've already bought the ship. It needs work, and it needs a Pilot as well. I think you're perfect for the job if you will join me." 

"Of course, but I'll have to make sure my mom is okay with it." Dylan nodded. 

"Great."

...

Shepard watched the board before her waiting for them to decide what to do with her. "Given all the evidence that's been presented, we no longer believe you are fit to lead. We will be giving you an Honorable discharge, and once you've gotten the help you need, we might consider reinstating you." The younger woman announced. She watched the hardened face of Admiral Hackett pleaded for him to help. There's no way they could take this away from her. 

"I'm still a Spectre." Shepard responded crossing her arms. "You can't stop me from doing my job." 

"But you won't have Alliance resources available to you until you've complied with our agreement." Admiral Hackett's voice rang out like the bells of defeat. 

"I'll find a way. I always do." Shepard answered shaking her head. 

"Dismissed Shepard." The woman responded coldly. 

A few nervous break downs and they take everything away? After all they made her do. Admiral Hackett didn't even stand up for her. It's almost as if now that Anderson is gone there's no one on her side. 

Shepard found herself in front of the Vakarian apartment. Last she had heard the girl who saved her life was staying here. That was a month ago, and since then she'd left but maybe Sol knew where she went. She rang the buzzer and stepped back so the vid screen could see her. The door whirled open and Solana appeared, her mandibles slicking excitedly. "Commander Shepard! What a surprise." 

"Do you have any clues as to where Max Coleman ran off too? I need to see her... And drop Commander that's done now." Shepard responded. 

"Uh... I'm sorry, I didn't know where she went and what happened?" 

"Ireland Federation." A deeper voice answered. 

"You knew?!" Solana whipped around to her father. 

"I didn't want you chasing after her Solana." He answered evenly. "I know how you are." 

"Good I need her. The council Choose to uphold my Spectre status but... I don't have a ship. If I'm going to get one outside of the military she's my best lead." Shepard responded. "I need to find her if I'm going to find Garrus and the _Normandy_.

"I'm going with you." Solana responded quickly. "You already said I could." 

"Absolutely not." The elder Vakarian responded. 

"With all due respect sir, I could use all the hands I can get. I'm going after Garrus, I don't think you should stop Sol from helping. He's her brother." Shepard argued. 

The older turian sighed. "I know you mean well, but we don't even know that he's alive. I can't lose her too."

"I'll make sure nothing happens to her. I will protect her with my life." Shepard responded. "Just let her come." 

There was a pause before he responded. "If anything happens to her, I will come after you myself." 

"I can live with that arrangement, or not if the case may be but I will make sure nothing happens to her." Shepard agreed. 

Before anything else could be said Solana was running back to her room to pack a few things. Shepard stepped into the door closing it. "Thank you sir." 

"Don't thank me. At least now she won't run off behind my back." He answered shortly.


End file.
